Ct Patriot: I am In Awe of Her Strength…
Woman with terminal brain cancer advocates for law that will let her end life on her own terms
Brittany Maynard, 29, was given six months to live after being diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor. But she’s taking her final days into her own hands.
Brittany Maynard was just getting started in life.
The 29-year-old had just gotten married and was actively trying for a baby with her new husband, Dan.
But she couldn’t shake the severe headaches that began last January. The diagnosis was just as severe: brain cancer.
After brain surgery, she learned her tumor was larger than what she originally had been told-it was stage 4 glioblastoma, the worst, most aggressive type of brain tumor. She was given six months to live.
But rather than let the tumor take her the way it wants, Brittany’s flipping the script. On Nov. 1, surrounded by her husband, mother and best friend, she will ingest medication that ends her life peacefully and painlessly.
But she’s making it very clear that her decision isn’t suicide.
“There is not a cell in my body that is suicidal or that wants to die,” Maynard told People.com. “I want to live. I wish there was a cure for my disease but there’s not. … Being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying.”
For more information on Maynard, visit www.thebrittanyfund.org.
THE BRITTANY MAYNARD FUND
To expand the death-with-dignity option to all
About Brittany Maynard
This spring, 29-year-old newlywed Brittany Maynard learned that she had terminal brain cancer. After careful assessment of her prognosis and end-of-life choices, she and her family reluctantly decided to move from their San Francisco Bay Area home to Oregon, one of five states (including Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico) that authorize death with dignity.
As a result, in the few weeks she has left to live, Brittany wants to advocate for access for death with dignity in California and nationwide in partnership with Compassion & Choices, the nation’s leading end-of-life choice advocacy organization.
Brittany Maynard’s glioblastoma brain tumor is being treated with several strong prescription drugs designed to reduce swelling of the brain and to try to minimize debilitating seizures. Unfortunately, these drugs come with their own frustrating set of side effects including rapid weight gain and swelling of the face. In spite of some profound shyness regarding her new prescription drug-induced appearance, Brittany agreed to be interviewed on film regarding Death with Dignity because her strong belief in the ethics of this basic healthcare human right.
http://www.thebrittanyfund.org/
What is death with dignity?
Death with dignity is an option every person deserves, to reduce suffering at the end of life and die in comfort and control, with dignity. It has been ruled a constitutionally protected right in state and federal courts. Death-with-dignity or aid in dying is a medical practice in which a terminally ill and mentally competent adult requests, and a doctor prescribes, a life-ending medication the person self-administers. Recent national polling puts public support for aid in dying at 70 percent.
Share this:
Leave a comment
No comments yet.
A Ct Patriot's Blog 
Leave a comment