Bill Burke, a Hospice of the East Bay patient, is living life to the fullest despite his terminal diagnosis. When Bill Burke’s doctor first recommended that he begin using hospice services, Bill was reluctant—he still has a lot of living to do and saw hospice as the final stage of life. For Bill, living life to the fullest includes spending time playing cards with his wife and friends, watching his grandchildrens’ sporting events, and publishing his fifth book prior to the end of his life. Bill said the media makes hospice look like the experience is all about dying but Bill feels like his experience with Hospice of the East Bay encouraged him to manage his symptoms and to keep on living.
Bill Burke is a retired corporate executive, veteran and author. Burke lived in Iran in the 1970s and has traveled to 51 countries and all 50 states. He especially enjoyed the customs, cuisine and people that he encountered while living in Iran and traveling through the Near East and Middle East. His journeys included Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Turkey. Based on his experiences, Bill Burke has three published works of non-fiction including Adventures in the Middle East, Near East and North Africa, Odyssey from Iran and My Army Days: Hup, Toop, Threep, Fourp! His first fiction novel The Persian Caper was published in 2010.
When Bill started on hospice services, he had already completed the manuscript for his fifth book, a fiction novel called The Palestinian Caper: A Black Ops Thriller. It was important to Bill that his book be published prior to the end of his life since he had been working on it for several years. As his condition progressed, Bill’s eyesight was becoming worse and he was having difficult editing the manuscript, so Burke’s wife took on the project of reading and editing the manuscript as Bill continued to communicate with his publisher. Bill Burke’s fifth and final book The Palestinian Caper was published in December 2013 and is available on Kindle and in paperback.
