History Main / ConvenientTerminalIllness

-->'''Owen Larsen''': It wasn't fair. Now it is... I couldn't just let him die. He has a little boy... My boy's life is just starting out. He can watch his son grow up, protect him. Now it's fair.

* There's a variation in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemptionII''. [[spoiler:The things Arthur does in the final chapter]] probably ''wouldn't'' be fatal if he didn't have end-stage tuberculosis, but getting the terminal diagnosis galvanizes his character development and gives him the courage to [[spoiler:break away from Dutch, who he was genuinely loyal to despite Dutch's declining sanity]]. Had [[spoiler:Arthur]] never contracted [=TB=], he probably wouldn't have ''tried'' to help [[spoiler:John and Abigail escape]].

* ''Series/MoneyHeist'' has a variant in that the ill character willingly goes ahead with the sacrifice with the others never thinking about it in the first place. In the final Season 2 episode, Berlin, who has an unspecificed terminal illness, is the only member of the heist team at the Royal Mint of Spain who fights against the incoming armored police squad to give time for the rest of the robbers to run to the exit they made. He ends up being shot down by the squad.

Compare NotTheIllnessThatKilledThem (where the ill character's external death isn't a sacrifice) and TheLastDance.

Compare TheLastDance.

* ''Series/MoneyHeist'' has a variant in that the ill character willingly goes ahead with the sacrifice with the others never thinking about it in the first place. In the final Season 2 episode, Berlin, who has an unspecificed terminal illness, is the only member of the heist team at the Royal Mint of Spain who fights against the incoming armored police squad to give time for the rest of the robbers running towards the exit they made. He ends up being shot down by the squad.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

'''As a DeathTrope, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder:'' In "Murder Country Style", a mother confesses to a murder committed by her daughter in an attempt to keep her daughter from going to jail, since she has a terminal illness and is OK to spend whatever remains of her life in jail for the sake of her daughter's freedom. Unfortunately for her and her daughter, Mark figures out that her testimony is a lie since [[DisabilityAlibi her condition has left her too weak to swing a blunt instrument with enough force to kill]].

* In the series finale of ''{{Series/Revenge}}'', Emily is framed for murder by Victoria and forced to flee the police. After Victoria sics her henchman on Emily's lover Jack, Emily becomes determined to end their cycle of retribution by killing Victoria once and for all. She corners Victoria in her hiding place and is about to pull the trigger, despite the presence of cameras that will incriminate her for real. However, her father David sacrifices himself by killing Victoria instead, as he is already dying from terminal lymphoma. He ends up getting compassionate release on account of this and gets to die as a free man.

* After Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', readers are informed in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' that the curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him due to a nasty curse. He had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul (and the Malfoy's lives if Draco isn't able to go through with it). Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHairBearBunch'': episode "Rare Bear Bungle" has Bubi Bear faking what sounds like a terminal illness as a stop-gap measure to deflect Mr. Peevly while Hair concocts a plan to replace and locate a $50,000 bear they sent into town.

So something bad is about to happen; a nuclear weapon is about to go off or an asteroid is about to impact the planet, and the only way to avoid this is if [[SomeoneHasToDie someone stays behind]] and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices themselves to stop it]]. But who will go? All of these characters are lifelong friends. There's no easy way to decide. Or is there? One of the characters has an IncurableCoughOfDeath and only a few months to live. He'll do it - after all, he's dying anyway, and in a [[DeathIsDramatic far less dramatic and spectacular way]].

* There's a variation in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemptionII''.[[spoiler: The things Arthur does in the final chapter probably ''wouldn't'' be fatal if he didn't have end-stage tuberculosis, but getting the terminal diagnosis galvanizes his character development and gives him the courage to break away from Dutch, who he was genuinely loyal to despite Dutch's declining sanity. Had Arthur never contracted [=TB=], he probably wouldn't have ''tried'' to help John and Abigail escape.]]

So something bad is about to happen; a nuclear weapon is about to go off, or an asteroid is about to impact the planet and the only way to avoid this is if [[SomeoneHasToDie someone stays behind]] and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices themselves to stop it]]. But who will go? All of these characters are life long friends. There's no easy way to decide. Or is there? One of the characters has an IncurableCoughOfDeath and only a few months to live. He'll do it - after all, he's dying anyway, and in a [[DeathIsDramatic far less dramatic and spectacular way]].

'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

* ''Fanfic/ResidentProject'': In the first chapter, Leon gets bitten by a zombie, and several times over the next few chapters he volunteers for dangerous missions because he's on a ticking clock anyway. And then it turns out that due to a unique combination of heritage and history, he is [[TheImmune the one person in a trillion who is immune to the zombie virus]].

* In ''Series/TwentyFour'', CTU Director George Mason gets a fatal case of radiation poisoning while searching for a nuke in Day 2. At the end of the Day, Jack flies an airplane carrying the nuke on a suicide course to the desert to prevent it from killing anyone, only for a stowaway Mason to reveal himself, convince Jack to not throw his life away and take his place at the controls while Jack parachutes to safety. It helps that while Mason was dying, he looked back on his life and [[HeelRealization realized]] how much he had made everyone close to him dislike him, which caused him to try and make amends with his remaining time. Being poisoned not only gave him a reason to sacrifice himself in another's place (he says that he'd rather not suffer the end-stage poisoning effects) but most likely was why he would even consider doing so.

* ''Series/{{Harrow}}'': The mother in "Pia mater" ("Gentle Mother") is dying of terminal cancer when she deliberately crashes her car; killing herself and her adult son. Harrow's investigation reveals her son was a burgeoning SerialKiller when she attempted to kill him in his teens. Her bullet [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain lodged in his frontal lobe]], causing a drastic personality change. Years later, an accident caused the bullet to shift and his original personality started to return. The mother, dying of cancer, decided to finish the job she started years earlier by killing them both.
* In the series finale of ''{{Series/Revenge}}'', Emily is framed for murder by Victoria and forced to flee the police. After Victoria siccs her henchman on Emily's lover Jack, Emily becomes determined to end their cycle of retribution by killing Victoria once and for all. She corners Victoria in her hiding place and is about to pull the trigger, despite the presence of cameras which will incriminate her for real. However, her father David sacrifices himself by killing Victoria instead, as he is already dying from terminal lymphoma. He ends up getting compassionate release on account of this and gets to die as a free man.

* ''Series/{{Vera}}'': In [[spoiler:"Young Gods"]], after the killer is caught, he confesses to Vera and then adds that he will not live to stand trial. He has lung cancer, and has three months to live; six at the most. He received the diagnosis the same day that he learned the information that caused him to commit murder, and took it as sign.

* Played for as much TearJerker potential as possible by ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', where Snake's terminal illness and IncurableCoughOfDeath makes him reckless, self-destructive, and occasionally outright suicidal, dead set on performing a StupidSacrifice. It's also made painful by the fact that his terminal illness means that even if he does survive all the stupid things he keeps doing to his body - which of course he knows he will - the beloved character himself is not getting out alive.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' gives us Kaito Momota, whose secret IncurableCoughOfDeath drives most of his character. It's why he wants to become an astronaut despite being so young. It's why he lives every day as though it might be his last. It's why he exercises every night. Finally, it's why he cooperates with Kokichi in the latter's plot to fight the killing game itself. While that plan fails utterly, he's notable for being the only killer in the franchise who [[spoiler:is found guilty, but isn't successfully punished. He dies partway through his execution, and judging by the final facial expressions on Kaito and Monokuma, Kaito got the last laugh]].

* In "Fanfic/MGLNCrisis", the clones of Miyuki and Kyouya, according to Shamal, have about a year to live. They make a HeroicSacrifice toward the end of the fic.

* After Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', readers are informed in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' that the curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him. He had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul. Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.

* In ''Film/{{Red}}'', Joe volunteers to be the distraction for the protagonists to escape from a house that is surrounded by the CIA. He mentions earlier in the film that he's 80 years old and has stage 4 Liver Cancer, so he chooses to make "the hard choice".

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' gives us Kaito Momota, whose secret IncurableCoughOfDeath drives most of his character. It's why he wants to become an astronaut despite being so young. It's why he lives every day as though it might be his last. It's why he exercises every night. Finally, it's why he cooperates with Kokichi in the latter's plot to fight the killing game itself. While that plan fails utterly, he's notable for being the only killer in the franchise who [[spoiler:is found guilty, but isn't successfully punished. He dies partway through his execution, and judging by the final facial expressions on Kaito and Monokuma, Kaito got the last laugh]].

* ''VideoGame/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' gives us Kaito Momota, whose secret IncurableCoughOfDeath drives most of his character. It's why he wants to become an astronaut despite being so young. It's why he lives every day as though it might be his last. It's why he exercises every night. Finally, it's why he cooperates with Kokichi in the latter's plot to fight the killing game itself. While that plan fails utterly, he's notable for being the only killer in the franchise who [[spoiler:is found guilty, but isn't successfully punished. He dies partway through his execution, and judging by the final facial expressions on Kaito and Monokuma, Kaito got the last laugh]].

* Definitely describes [[spoiler:Buffy's]] final fight in the ''Series/{{Angel}}''/''Literature/TheHungerGames'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10718717/1/Demon-s-Games Demon's Games]]"; [[spoiler:as she CameBackWrong after her recent resurrection and knows she will die soon due to complications from the process that brought her back, when circumstances require someone to engage in a fight on the Astral Plane and appeal to the soul in the Key of Dagon, Buffy volunteers despite her lack of experience in this kind of fighting, as she's so close to death it doesn't matter if she can't come back to her body, and this way a strong fighter with a connection to Dawn can take on the challenge and the Summers sisters can pass on to the afterlife together]].

* '''Film/LifeAsAHouse''': After losing his job, George learns he has terminal cancer so advanced that he only has about four months to live. In the time he has left, he resolves to reconnect with his estranged teenage son and to build a new house in the place of his current ramshackle dwelling.