Helen Keller's letter from the Doctors Hospital in New York City, 1936. Full text of letter shown below.
By 1936 Anne's health was in an irreversible decline. Her remaining eye, operated on in April, soon began to cause her pain and she was diagnosed with gastric pains and senility. She made various trips to Canada and eastern Long Island, but none of these helped her. Finally Anne collapsed. She was taken to a hospital, suffering from a coronary thrombosis.
Anne died on October 20, 1936. She dictated the following excerpted messages to Polly shortly before then:
Good-bye John Macy, I'll soon be with you, good-bye, I loved you.
I wanted to be loved, I was lonesome. Then Helen came into my life, I wanted her to love me and I loved her. Then later Polly came and I loved Polly and we were always so happy together, my Polly, my Helen. Dear children may we all meet to-gether [sic] in harmony.
My Jimmy I'll lay these flowers by your face, don't take him away from me, I loved him so he's all I've got...
Polly will take care of Helen. As the years go on her speeches won't be so brilliant as what people will think but my guiding hand won't be there to take out what should be taken out.
Thank God I gave of my life that Helen might live. God help her to live without me when I go.
Full Transcript of Letter
For fifty years Anne Sullivan Macy, my beloved teacher, has been the light in my life. Now she is ill and the darkness that covers me has fallen upon her; still the light of her love shines amid the encircling gloom, and we are happy.
Helen Keller
