Yes. My Father.
Had to witness him drown as a young child in a hotel swimming pool in Seattle powerless to help or get someone to help.
Good grief. That's awful. And to others, your stories are quite heartbreaking.
Like a few of you, my DIRECT experience with death is limited to my grandmother (seeing her post-death), some pets dying (in front of me, various causes) and my father.
I was with my father at the end, as he was meant to go in hospice care. He wanted to pass at home (melanoma, in lungs, liver and brain), so he was drugged up. But it was just my mother and me that night, and my mother was taking a rest. I knew when I heard him breathing a certain way in the other room that things were possibly "starting," but I wasn't sure how it would all go. We never really knew how it was supposed to play out.
It was crazy talking to my dad and him being sort of lucid, even though drugged, and then having him enter the death process, as it were. Really wild seeing how a human body shuts down. I went and got my mother as he was struggling, and then we came back. The lights were out (just hallway lights), and I'll never forget how my father looked in the dark. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that vacant look. Seconds later, my mother turned on the lights and had 911 on the phone, and I knew he was gone. It was the vacant look we've all heard about. But what was crazier was that my dad was still making noise (which I'll never forget) and how he was "gone," but he still sort of had a hold of my hand and kind of brought it towards him.
Was it just the body shutting down? Possibly. Was he still a bit there, as I've heard? Some say that hearing is the last to go. Either way, it was quite an educational experience. I thought I did quite well, and I was proud of how my father passed. Not to get too gross about it, but when my dad was passing, I did get some urine on the leg. When that happened (side of the bed), I knew my father was very much on the way out. Even crazier having EMTs arrive (we had called them) to try and work on him, which we didn't want, as we had a DNR. It took a bit to find it, so they stopped. Still, added to the tenseness of the situation.
It's not easy seeing someone essentially drown (lung fluids) in front of you. A tough memory for a while, one I'm glad my siblings were spared of, but it was a gift, in some ways.