This man has it right.
After cancer diagnosis, man chooses to die sailing down the Mississippi River with his dog
By Maria Clark, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune mclark@nola.com
The Times-Picayune
A yellow tugboat heading upstream along the Mississippi River Wednesday morning (Jan. 9) created waves strong enough to rock an old red and white houseboat named “Shameless”. The waves pulled at the little houseboat, threatening to make it come untied from a tree near the levee in Algiers Point, where it’s been docked this past week.
The boat’s owner, Kelly Phillips, 51, and his dog Sapphire, walked out onto the houseboat’s deck, managing to keep their balance despite the wind and relentless rocking. They jumped into a dark green pirogue that was taking on some water and Phillips paddled to the levee using an old broom he had found on shore.
As he walked up to the levee, he hugged himself against the cold breeze that had swept in overnight.
“It’s cold on the houseboat, there is no insulation. Fortunately, I have my little heater,” he said, gesturing to Sapphire.
This turn of the Mississippi River is just one of dozens of places Phillips has visited since he started his journey down the river 20 months ago.
Phillips, who is originally from Wisconsin, said he was diagnosed with cancer in his sinuses about two years ago. He underwent chemotherapy, but the treatment left him with a debilitating stomach ulcer. His doctors said he had only about three months to live.
At the time, Phillips was living in New Jersey, where he ran a variety of businesses including two laundromats and a commercial laundry company with 53 employees.
He said he knew the last place he wanted to die in was in hospice care.
He thought if anything, the Mississippi River might be a good place to go. So, with his brother’s help he bought “Shameless,” a houseboat built in 1972.
“I woke up in the morning. I don’t know why but I just decided to to call my brother and said, ‘This is what I want to do,’” he said.
Originally he had planned to stay in Wisconsin. But three months went by. Then five months and six months, so he decided to head downriver.
“I figured I’d travel for three months and that would be it. I didn’t die, my plans got screwed up, so I continued going downriver,” he said.
With only $214 in his pocket, he set sail.
The river has been his home and he said the “Mississippi River people” have been his family.
He remembers when he arrived in Chester, Illinois, on New Year’s Eve in 2017. He was set to leave the next day but his boat was stuck in frozen water. He had run out of wood for his stove and gas for his generator.
“I was going to freeze to death,” he said. He ended up calling the local police department for help and said he got connected to the right person. Soon after the people of Chester came out and gave him gas and delivered scrap wood and three containers of food.
“Some guy even gave me this jacket,” Phillips said, pointing to the black windbreaker he was wearing.
The houseboat was sinking when he reached Hickman, Kentucky. There he met a tugboat captain who pulled him out of the water and promised, no matter where Phillips ends up when he dies, he will take care of Sapphire.
When he reached Memphis, Sapphire went missing briefly. The people who found her learned about Phillips and decided to help him on his journey and bought him a new engine and generator for his boat.
In Baton Rouge, a friend set him up with a motorized bike, because Phillips is too weak to pedal.
In Algiers Point he’s shared coffee at One Stone and stories with people at the Old Point Bar.
New Orleans was originally going to be his last stop on his journey down the river, but Phillips said he plans to end up in Venice, La., by Jan. 23 where many of his “river friends” plan to meet him.
He found out about this last place on the river a few weeks ago and says he is looking forward to all of the fresh seafood ahead in his journey.
“Most of all I want to say ‘I did it, I made it all the way down the river,’” he said.
Beyond Venice he has no plans, mainly because he says he hates making plans.
For now, he says, he has enough energy to keep traveling. Each morning Sapphire gets him up from the recliner where he sleeps by standing on his chest and barking.
“She makes sure that I get up,” he said.
He said he will continue as long as he can without medical help.
“I don’t want to go to the hospital,” he said. “Hopefully I will just lay down and go to sleep and not wake up. That seems like the easiest way to go.”
