Remember whose messenger sickness is ...

Misunderstand not sickness, as if it were a greater evil than it is; but observe how great a mercy it is, that death has so suitable a harbinger or forerunner: that God should do so much before he takes us hence, to wean us from the world, and make us willing to be gone; that the unwilling flesh has the help of pain; and that the senses and appetite languish and decay, which did draw the mind to earthly things: and that we we have so loud a call, and so great a help to true repentance and serious preparation. (Practical Works of Richard Baxter: A Christian Directory v. 1 Ch XXX, p527)