{"id":399237,"date":"2026-08-06T12:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/399237\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T12:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:14:08","slug":"planning-for-the-end-why-one-dallas-woman-hired-a-death-doula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/399237\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning for the end: Why one Dallas woman hired a death doula"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeanine Blair opened the door for her death doula<\/a> on a cloudless Friday morning in July. They greeted each other like old friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They sat, and the pink-haired, heavily tattooed doula pulled out her binder and spread documents across the dinner table. The papers held decisions <\/a>most people avoid making: advanced directives, funeral wishes, body donation plans and instructions for what should happen when Blair could no longer speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A ginger cat descended the stairs and went straight to the doula. The cat, Tiger Lily, weaved through her legs in figure eights, circling once, twice, then jumped onto the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Blair watched Tiger Lily examine the papers, sheets that documented the plan for Blair\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blair was already well acquainted with funerals before she started planning her own. Her mother, brother and father had died within the last four years, one loss after the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She and her sisters largely went through that process alone. Their parents did not plan for death, and it created turmoil in their lives when they quickly declined and went into hospice<\/a>. Blair didn\u2019t want her death to be another burden for her sisters to carry.<\/p>\n

But she didn\u2019t want to go through it alone, either. That\u2019s where her death doula came in.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

The diagnosis<\/p>\n

Blair, 48, knew she had cancer before the results were confirmed back in January 2025. Her doctor told her it was probably nothing. Her boss optimistically waved away her concerns when she brought it up. But the biopsy results confirmed what Blair already felt to be true: She had rectal cancer.<\/p>\n

At first, doctors told her the outlook wasn\u2019t too bad. More tests revealed that it was, and that treatment options would significantly affect her quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more time and the more tests that I did,\u201d Blair said, \u201cthe bleaker that picture kind of looked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jeanine<\/p>\n

Jeanine Blair poses for a photo with her cat, Tiger Lily, at her home in Dallas on Monday, July 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joe Snell\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

After months of moving through different treatments, she decided to stop to enjoy the time she had left. Blair\u2019s next step was to plan her own funeral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

When she Googled \u201cfuneral planner,\u201d she found something she didn\u2019t expect: a website called \u201cDallas Death Doula.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair wasn\u2019t sure what a death doula was, so she read more. She learned that death doulas provide end of life planning, emotional support and funeral and legacy planning. It was the emphasis on empathy for the dying and their loved ones that pushed her to pick up the phone and call the \u201cDallas Death Doula\u201d herself.<\/p>\n

The more she read, the more she wished she and her sisters had hired one to help deal with their parents\u2019 deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very traumatic for me and my sister because we were both here trying to take care of them as best we could,\u201d Blair said. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t I have this when I was going through what I was going through with my parents?\u201d<\/p>\n

It only took one phone call for her to determine that she wanted to hire Dallas-based death doula Britna Savarese for a planning session. Blair saw her as compassionate, understanding and, most importantly, unfazed by anything Blair \u201cthrew at her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s prepared,\u201d Blair said, \u201cand has answers to a lot of questions that I don\u2019t think people are necessarily brave enough to ask.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides logistics, Savarese helps people come to terms with the process of dying. She said she and Blair are a good fit because they share a sense of humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can cry when we need to and be serious when we need to, but let\u2019s just joke around when we can and bring some levity to it,\u201d Savarese said. \u201cThat\u2019s not for everyone. That\u2019s what Jeanine wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the dining table in Blair\u2019s condo, Blair explained that she wants to donate her body to The University of Texas Southwestern\u2019s willed body program so that scientists can learn from her case. Savarese listened as Blair described her frustration with the lack of research on her type of cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of information on rectal cancer,\u201d Blair said. \u201cStudy me, cut me up, do whatever and learn from it so other people don\u2019t have to go through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Savarese nodded. They discussed the rise of rectal cancer among younger women. The conversation trailed off, then Blair smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not done it yet, but I really want to get an LMAO tattoo on my a\u2013,\u201d Blair said. Both women burst out into giggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what?\u201d Savarese laughed. \u201cI know some good artists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A guide through dying<\/p>\n

Before Savarese entered Blair\u2019s home, she paused at the doorway. She placed her hand against the doorjamb, then stepped inside. The ritual lasts only a moment, but she does it every time she enters a client\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

When she leaves, hours later, she repeats it, reminding herself that the grief inside belongs to the people she\u2019s there to serve, not to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Britna<\/p>\n

Britna Savarese, a death doula, pauses before entering the home of Jeanine Blair in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Joe Snell\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

At 10 years old, Savarese wanted to be a mortician. That, or a princess.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She grew up in a small town where funerals frequently took place. Her local funeral home\u2019s director was a pillar of the community. Watching him support grieving families motivated her to train as a mortician, a pull that Savarese said is referred to in the industry as the \u201cdeath whisper.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She quickly became disillusioned with mortuary school, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to mortuary college and learned that a lot of it was the psychology of selling: how do you upsell a family that wants a wooden casket to get the $30,000 Cadillac of caskets?\u201d Savarese said. \u201cSo I quit school. I felt very jaded about the funeral industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until she saw author and death doula instructor Alua Arthur talk about the field on social media that she heard about death doulas. That was the moment the \u201cdeath whisper\u201d became a shout, Savarese said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I was keying into as a little girl,\u201d \u00a0Savarese said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, as a death doula, she often meets people when their world begins to shrink. A terminal diagnosis. A hospice referral. A family gathered around a bedside, unsure of what comes next.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her goal isn\u2019t to make sure people have a good death. There\u2019s no guarantee of that, Savarese said. Her job is to help people prepare to deal with their death or the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n

After three funerals<\/p>\n

Blair\u2019s parents did not plan for their deaths. Her mother died in March 2022 after bouncing between the hospital, rehab and hospice. She only spent 24 hours in hospice before she died. Blair said the death felt sudden and traumatic, partly because her parents refused to accept additional support as they aged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Losing a parent is difficult. Blair said her parents being in denial about the severity of their conditions made the process harder. She and her oldest sister had to do the end-of-life planning while their parents resisted their efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this was kind of some stubbornness and not really understanding or appreciating where she was in her timeline,\u201d Blair said. \u201cNot just from her but from my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair\u2019s father died a little over a year later in June 2023. Between them, her brother died in a car accident. She and her sisters, 6 and 11 years older than Blair, were swamped in the bureaucratic tasks of dealing with the funerals, wills and everything else that comes with dying on top of their grief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Blair received her diagnosis in January 2025, it hit the sisters hard.<\/p>\n

The former senior project manager retired to focus on her health after a decades-long career at Cinemark. Grief, whether for herself or others, didn\u2019t turn off her love of a well-executed plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The day her mother entered hospice, Blair started calling funeral homes to make sure they could accommodate her mother\u2019s religious beliefs. Blair approached her own death with the same pragmatism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted my journey to be completely wrapped up in a bow as much as it can be,\u201d Blair said.<\/p>\n

After initially contracting Savarese in late 2025, Blair stopped seeing her doula when she decided to go through radiation last January. Blair dreamed of a trip to Scotland and her symptoms prevented her from doing that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blair hoped that restarting treatment would allow her to feel well enough to go and, for a while, it did. She went on a bus tour to see castles with friends. She loved it, but the whole time she felt tired, and she couldn\u2019t quite tell if it was jet lag or her symptoms catching up with her.<\/p>\n

When Blair returned from the trip, her doctors told her she would need an invasive surgery to have a chance of limiting the tumor\u2019s growth. It wasn\u2019t a guarantee of complete remission and it would decrease her quality of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t worth it to Blair. So she called Savarese again. She needs to take naps during the day now, and she enrolled in hospice after connecting with one of Savarese\u2019s death doula peers who works with Angel Hands Hospice and Palliative Care.<\/p>\n

Now that a nurse comes to visit her home once a week, having her affairs in order feels increasingly important.<\/p>\n

A life well-lived<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot for Blair to consider before she dies, and Savarese said she\u2019s there to help with that. Besides planning details such as who has legal and medical power of attorney (her oldest sister) and how Blair wants to be cared for when it becomes difficult to perform basic functions (at home for as long as possible), there are the details people often don\u2019t think about until it\u2019s time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blair is divorced and doesn\u2019t have children. But she has a wide network of friends who\u2019ve stuck with her through hard times, and she wants to make sure they\u2019re cared for along with her sisters. Some of them had a difficult time understanding that she was dying.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a rollercoaster, for sure,\u201d Blair said. \u201cWhen I was telling one of my friends about my diagnosis, she goes, \u2018What does that mean? Do you have an expiration date? \u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair put her medical information into Chat GPT, asked it to explain what her diagnosis meant in layman\u2019s terms and then sent it to her friends. When Savarese heard that, she laughed. Now, Savarese can help Blair have those difficult conversations.<\/p>\n

An unregulated field<\/p>\n

Death doulas can perform a wide range of functions. Estate planning, holding vigil over someone as they die, creating legacy projects and massage therapy are just a few of the tasks a doula may offer.<\/p>\n

Some of those tasks require licensing, but the profession of being a death doula is unregulated in the state of Texas. Anyone can call themselves a doula and sell their services. Savarese said she\u2019s seen people take a three-hour course or even go into the field with no experience.<\/p>\n

Savarese took a 14-week training course. She recommended people interested in becoming a death doula vet the training course they take, and that people looking for a doula\u2019s services check their credentials.<\/p>\n

The lack of state regulation can be a positive, Savarese said. It allows doulas to care for people in whatever way the client needs without having to go through multiple layers of state bureaucracy. It does mean that anyone can say they\u2019re a death doula without any experience. Savarese said untrained doulas could harm the client if they provide bad advice that leads to a legal or medical decision that\u2019s not aligned with the client\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

The fact that Savarese isn\u2019t registered with a government agency doesn\u2019t bother Blair because she said Savarese has no control of Blair\u2019s medical or financial decisions. Plus, she trusts her doula.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like there\u2019s anything that she\u2019s doing or that she would have access to that makes me vulnerable,\u201d Blair said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Besides, Blair is not alone. Her oldest sister and brother-in-law live nearby. Savarese isn\u2019t meant to replace them, she said, just make their lives easier during painful moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Putting the fun back in funeral<\/p>\n

Blair doesn\u2019t want her friends and family to feel like they have to be sad when her life ends. They\u2019ve been through too much already.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving gone through so many, especially recently, my sister and brother-in-law and I always joke, let\u2019s put the fun back in funeral,\u201d Blair said. \u201cI want to celebrate who I was during my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair wants there to be a celebration, but she also recognizes that her loved ones may need space to mourn. That means two funerals.<\/p>\n

In the first she wants to pay tribute to her years at Cinemark with a memorial service in a movie theater. The setting feels fitting to Blair, who started there over 30 years ago as a teenager popping popcorn and whose home and body are peppered with references to movies. A print of the Ed Hopper painting \u201cNew York Movie\u201d hangs over her sofa while two sparrows attempt to fly while carrying a coconut on her arm\u00a0\u2014 a reference to the 1975 comedy \u201cMonty Python and the Holy Grail.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then Blair wants an \u201cafter party\u201d with karaoke, dancing and music.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m there with them in spirit,\u201d Blair said, \u201cdoing the dancing and the singing and all those fun things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still time left before that, though. Savarese asked Blair what she wanted to do with her possessions. The guitar will go to a musically inclined friend. The desk and clock her father carved will go to her oldest sister, and then the next eldest if she doesn\u2019t want it. Savarese encouraged her to think about why she wanted to give certain items to certain people when Blair writes goodbye letters to them.<\/p>\n

Tiger Lily jumped on the dining table. Blair prepared for what will happen to Tiger Lily and her sister Daisy after she dies. A friend from work, also a cat mom who took care of them when Blair was redoing her floor, will adopt them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The twin tabbies will have to get used to a new home, but Blair trusts that it\u2019ll be one that feels familiar.<\/p>\n

Staff writer Sana Muneer contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeanine Blair opened the door for her death doula on a cloudless Friday morning in July. They greeted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-399237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}