The deaths of two famous Australians, Neale Daniher and James Valentine, and their differing end-of-life messages to their adoring fans made me reflect on GPs’ position in these discussions.

Daniher, the famous AFL player and coach, said repeatedly that he was “fighting a battle with The Beast”: his fatal motor neurone disease.

“Play on” was his lasting epitaph. In other words, stoicism and strength are needed to get up and go again in the face of medical adversity.

Valentine, however, took a festive and celebratory approach to his equally public terminal disease diagnosis.