As tenaciously as human beings cling to life, there is one condition in which this drive for self-preservation can be weakened by an even stronger instinct: parenthood.
It is a common wish among parents that they not outlive their own children. The heartbreak that comes from the death of a child is hard to endure.
So appears to be the case with Debbie Reynolds, the onetime Hollywood golden girl, who died Wednesday at age 84, one day after her daughter and fellow actress Carrie Fisher died at 60.
Their relationship was strained and dysfunctional at times. It played out too much in the public eye, as celebrity families tend to.
But there is also a bond between mother and child that can withstand a lot until that bond is broken by death.
