She signaled by blinking her eyes and nodding: An endurance athlete at the end of life

Barbara Warren, a champion endurance athlete in the over-60 age group, died in Santa Barbara, California on Tuesday, three days after crashing during the cycling portion of the Santa Barbara Triathlon.

She had broken her neck in the fall and was paralyzed from the neck down, breathing with a ventilator, when she signaled, by blinking her eyes and nodding, that she wanted the ventilator turned off.

"She wanted to leave," said her sister. "No athlete would like to have a life with only their eyes talking."

Barbara had competed 13 times in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii, winning it at the age of 60. The triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile marathon.

Advice to family members with gravely ill relatives: Honor the wishes of family members about the end of life.

Read another end of life story.

Thanks to Bruce Weber for the source story in today's New York Times.

She ran a marathon while on chemotherapy: Incurable liver cancer

Jane Tomlinson, a mother of three, passed away on September 3 from liver cancer, seven years after hearing she had six months to live.

Weeks after learning of her terminal illness, she joined a gym. Two and a half years later, she became the first known person to run a marathon on chemotherapy when she completed her second London Marathon. The next year, she became the first woman with incurable cancer to complete an Ironman Triathlon – a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bicycle ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile marathon. Her final big challenge – another success – was to run from San Francisco to New York, last year.

Jane raised $2.5 million for charity.

Advice: Learn from Jane’s strength.

Read a happier story of an endurance athlete’s survival from cancer, or read Kate Kelland’s source story in the Sept. 10 issue of the Boston Globe.