Family and friends say Hayward Morgan didn't quit on life. He just knew when he had enough.

When the time came, the St. John's resident, 66, wrote his own obituary and threw his own wake to say goodbye while he was alive

Decades of living with Type 1 diabetes took a toll on Morgan, who became legally blind in 1994, then had kidney failure and problems with dialysis.

Last Christmas, he was struck by a heart attack, followed by a series of infections and an operation to have part of his foot amputated.

For Morgan, that was the last straw. He chose to stop the dialysis treatment that had been keeping him alive, and told his friends and family he was ready to die.

Hearing the news

His brother, Winston Morgan, had come to the hospital to pick him up. Hayward was so weak that Winston had to bring him out in a wheelchair.

"He said, 'I'm not coming back,'" said Morgan. "The whole thing was hard. Getting upset and crying and knowing what was coming and trying to stay strong."

Hayward's daughter Mary Jane Fisher, who lives in Alberta, remembers hearing the news during a phone call with her father.

"He said, 'Mary Jane, I have another infection, I've decided I'm done. I just can’t do this anymore,'" recounts Fisher.

She admits it was a little hard to accept at first.

"You still want to say, 'No dad, you can keep doing this,'" said Fisher. "But you know by telling him that you're being selfish."

She decided to support his choice and returned to Newfoundland.

After decades of coping with diabetes, Morgan decided to say goodbye to friends and family. (Pauline Oates)

Making plans

Once he had his family's blessing, Morgan started planning his death. He got a lawyer to straighten out the details, thanked his doctor for years of service, and then made funeral arrangements.

Two days after stopping all treatment, he held a live wake and invited friends, family and some nurses from the dialysis unit. Forty-seven people attended.

"He was surrounded by people the whole time," said his brother Winston. "Everybody was around, talking, joking, laughing."

"Before it was over, he went around and hugged everybody and said goodbye."

One childhood friend remembers telling Morgan what a great party it was.

"He said, 'this is better than I dreamed it could be,'" said Pauline Oates, who lives in Carbonear.

"I said, ‘You could pull out and we can do this again next year,’" said Oates. "We actually had a big laugh about that, and I find that amazing."

The fun didn't end with the live wake. There were lots of family dinners and visiting, and even a night of cards.

"Those days that he had before he passed away, he was amazing," said his daughter Fisher. "He was like the old Dad. He was tired but he had a smile on his face, he was peaceful,"

"He knew what he was doing and he was okay with it."

Saying goodbye

Five days after he stopped treatment, Morgan checked himself into palliative care.

By the next morning, it was time to say goodbye.

Fisher said he had a lot of visitors in his final hours.

"After the last one left, he turned to me and said, 'Okay, I've seen everybody now,'" Fisher recalls.

"I said, 'Okay Dad, you know I love you' and he said 'Yup, I know.'"

His self-penned obituary ran in the Telegram that day, and he was buried in a serene spot he'd chosen on family land.

Morgan died Sept. 2.