Hope to continue living is rarely irrevocably lost. Even in mental illness and depths of despair hope is still there waiting to return. In chronic physical disability hope and comfort can be regained through seemingly trivial symptomatic improvement. It can survive in apparently hopeless situations. So surely we should fan whatever embers of hope remain, and never confirm despair. To begin, just listen with realistic optimism for as long as it takes. It soon becomes clear that such hope can indeed spring eternal in the human breast; and from it flows a renewed conviction that life is after all worthwhile.