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David Bowie's son returns to Twitter to share moving thank you letter from doctor


Chloe Best
Lifestyle Features Editor
January 18, 2016
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David Bowie's son Duncan Jones broke his social media silence on Sunday to share a touching letter about his father's death. The 44-year-old, who had told followers he would be "offline for a while" after the music icon passed away, reposted an open letter written to David by a palliative care doctor.

Duncan retweeted a link from the Marie Curie charity which featured a letter written by Dr Mark Taubert to the late star, who revealed how David's private 18-month cancer battle helped him to lessen the fears of a dying patient.

DavidBowie Duncan © Photo: Getty Images

David Bowie's son Duncan Jones retweeted an open letter to his father

Dr Taubert wrote: "At the beginning of that week I had a discussion with a hospital patient, facing the end of her life. We discussed your death and your music, and it got us talking about numerous weighty subjects, that are not always straightforward to discuss with someone facing their own demise.

"In fact, your story became a way for us to communicate very openly about death, something many doctors and nurses struggle to introduce as a topic of conversation."

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Duncan retweeted a link to Dr Mark Taubert's blog post

The doctor also thanked David for his most recent album Blackstar and lead single Lazarus, which he said had a "profound effect" on both himself and the people he works with.

"Your album is strewn with references, hints and allusions," he wrote, adding: "For me, that fact that your gentle death at home coincided so closely with the release of your album, with its good-bye message, in my mind is unlikely to be coincidence. All of this was very carefully planned, to become a work of death art."

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Duncan previously said he would be "offline for a while" following his father's death

David passed away on Sunday 10 January, just two days after he celebrated his 69th birthday with the release of his 28th album. Sales surged in the days after he passed away, with the album reaching number one in both the UK and US – marking David's first number one album in America.

While the Starman singer is reported to have been cremated shortly after his death, friends and family are now planning a private memorial service where his wife Iman and daughter Alexandria will join Duncan to say their final farewell to a "beloved husband, father and friend".