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Tag: Brittany Maynard

  • Courteney Cox Film Relevant Again as Another Mom Seeks Right to Die

    Courteney Cox probably didn’t know that she was blazing new territory when she shot the film Just Before I Go. The movie follows a man who is determined to commit suicide but has a few loose ends to tie up back in his hometown.

    While the topic may seem weighty, Courteney Cox went about it from an angle. She cast Sean William Scott and made it a comedy.

    In support of Indie Film Month, Indiewire recently reprinted an interview with Courteney Cox about the film right after it premiered last year. Her thoughts on the topic are poignant to look back at in a world that has now experienced the very public right-to-die debate that was set in motion by Brittany Maynard.

    Courteney Cox said of her own film:

    “It kind of shows that when you think that something is going on with you, you realize, as you look out, that everyone is struggling and we have all have our issues. I was also drawn to the hilarity and subversive humor. Between the heartfelt stuff and the crazy obscure humor — it was perfect for my personality. It’s grounded yet outrageous.”

    Now news that one Christy O’Donnell of Santa Clarita, California is fighting for the right to end her own life brings the Courteney Cox film back into relevance.

    “The most likely way that I’m going to die with the lung cancer is that my left lung will fill with fluid, I’ll start drowning in my own fluid,” O’Donnell said in a Youtube video. “If I get to a hospital, they’ll very painfully put a tube in. They’ll drain the fluid from my lung, only to patch me up, send me home and wait until the next time my lung fills up with fluid. And they’ll continue to repeat that process and drowning painfully until I die.”

    Addressing such a sensitive subject required a balancing act in tone. Courteney Cox

    “We continued to work on it until we shot it, and even afterwards, trying to find the tone for people to understand that it’s okay to follow Seann William Scott’s life as he wants to end it. To have sympathy for him but know it’s okay to laugh. Usually suicide and cunt jokes don’t really go together. When you know that something is funny, and you’re okay with telling that kind of offensive humor, then you push the envelope.”

  • Debbie Purdy, Right-to-Die Activist, Has Died

    Debbie Purdy, a British right-to die activist, died of complications from Multiple Sclerosis at the Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford on December 23rd. She was 51 years old.

    According to a report from the Independent, Purdy’s husband, Cuban jazz violinist Omar Puente, confirmed his wife’s passing.

    “We would like to thank the Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford for the care the staff gave her, which allowed her last year to be as peaceful and dignified as she wished,” he said.

    Debbie Purdy was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 31, shortly after meeting her husband in Singapore in 1995.

    Over the past few years her condition had deteriorated, and she was unable to leave her home. She couldn’t leave her bed unless she was assisted by a nurse.

    The BBC reported it is believed Purdy was refusing food at the facility where she lived during the last weeks of her life, as a means of ending her life. She was unable to afford to travel abroad to an assisted dying clinic.

    It was back in 2008 when Debbie Purdy began her battle to make the laws surrounding assisted suicide clearer. She tried to determine whether or not her husband could be prosecuted for helping her to die. But the High Court and the Court of Appeal refused to say he would not be. She did win a huge legal victory the following year, however, when guidelines on assisted suicide were published by the UK government.

    In the United States just this past fall, Brittany Maynard, who suffered from an incurable brain tumor, ended her own life by consuming a cocktail of doctor-prescribed medications. She and her husband and parents moved from California to Oregon because assisted suicide isn’t illegal there. Debbie Purdy, being in the UK, had no such immediately available option.

  • Brittany Maynard Continues To Advocate After Death

    Brittany Maynard left behind a video to continue the momentum of her death-with-dignity movement after she was gone.

    She died by her own choice on November 1st from a combination of lethal drugs that were legally prescribed for her in Oregon.

    Brittany Maynard became a spokesperson for death-with-dignity when she announced that she would end her own life. She made the decision after she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer that left her with intolerable headaches, seizures, and memory loss.

    In the new video, released on what would have been her birthday, she says, “I hope for the sake of other American citizens … that I’m speaking to that I’ve never met, that I’ll never meet, that this choice be extended to you.”

    Maynard added, “That we mobilize, that we vocalize, that we start to talk about it. I decided to share my story … because I felt like this issue of death with dignity is misunderstood by many people in our community and culture.”

    The video was shot on August 2nd. Brittany Maynard decided to end her life before she could see her 30th birthday. She admitted that it would just be too sad for her.

    “The idea of celebrating my 30th birthday is quite difficult because my life was moving forward in such a great way,” she told People, “and to get this diagnosis turns your whole life upside down.”

    Brittany Maynard asked her husband and her mother to continue her advocacy for death-with-dignity organizations and to continue to lobby for the rights of terminal patients to choose death on their own terms.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1UhPChuYqY

    “She said if I was so inclined that she would like to see the work on getting death with dignity passed in all 50 states go on,” Debbie Ziegler said last month.

    “She would like to see that not stop, not be a 15-minute thing,” she continued. “We want to let people know that this is not as frightening as anyone makes it out to be. It’s really one choice of many. We all have many, many choices on how we handle our last days when we learn we are very ill, and everyone’s choice should be honored.”

    It sounds like Brittany Maynard’s legacy will not slow down any time soon, even though she is gone. What do you think of the death-with-dignity movement?

  • Brittany Maynard: Right-To-Die Advocate Leaves Behind One Final Message

    Three weeks after Brittany Maynard’s voluntary death, the right-to-die advocate has one final message for the world.

    Maynard chose to die rather than succumb to the horrific pain and suffering that was inevitable with her terminal cancer prognosis.

    Even though it was Brittany Maynard’s choice, it was still controversial to members of the public.

    “Death with Dignity” legislation remains a matter of debate, with some considering the decision to end one’s life prematurely immoral. There is also the argument that helping a person to terminate their own life for any reason is a highly unethical practice.

    Maynard appears in a video that was recorded on August 2nd, pleading for Death with Dignity laws to be passed nationwide.

    Said Maynard, “I hope for the sake of other American citizens all these people that I’m speaking to that I’ve never met, that I’ll never meet, that this choice be extended to you.”

    In the video message released by her supporters, the right-to-die advocate admitted that she decided to share her personal struggle and ultimate death with the world because she “felt like this issue of death with dignity is misunderstood by many people”.

    Instead of shying away from the topic of dying and deciding one’s right to die, Brittany Maynard hoped that seeing her journey would inspire a more open dialogue.

    The video was released on what would have been her 30th birthday.

    In an interview with People magazine that she had no intention of living to see her 30th birthday.

    “The idea of celebrating my 30th birthday is quite difficult because my life was moving forward in such a great way”, said Maynard. “and to get this diagnosis turns your whole life upside down.”

    Instead, Brittany Maynard used her birthday to help launch a nationwide campaign for the choice to die with dignity.

    Barbara Coombs Lee of right-to-die advocacy group Compassion & Choices had high praise for Maynard, who partnered with the organization prior to her death.

    She said that Brittany’s work on behalf of death with dignity advocacy was “selfless” and that she “is the new voice for the movement”.

  • Brittany Maynard Fights For Death With Dignity Beyond Her Own Passing

    The woman who chose to end her life after being diagnosed with a rare and debilitating form of brain cancer is still fighting for the right to death with dignity after her own passing on November 1. Brittany Maynard chose the date to end her suffering by ingesting prescribed barbiturates and would have turned 30 on November 19, but a video released by aid-in-dying advocates is helping her keep up the fight.

    In the video, recorded on August 2 and released on her birthday, Maynard urges others to campaign for death with dignity laws for the entire country. “I hope for the sake of other American citizens — all these people I’m speaking to that I’ve never met, that I’ll never meet — that this choice be extended to you… That we mobilize. That we vocalize. That we start to talk about it,” said Maynard in the video.

    Maynard’s choice to end her life in the face of a painful terminal illness has prompted responses from the Vatican. Pope Francis reportedly called assisted suicide “a false sense of compassion” in a recent meeting with the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors. Meanwhile, Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said on November 3, just days after Maynard’s death that her choice to end her life was “reprehensible.” De Paula reportedly said, “We don’t judge people, but the gesture in itself is to be condemned. Assisted suicide is an absurdity. Dignity is something different than putting an end to your own life.”

    Maynard’s mother, Debbi Ziegler, responded to the monsignor’s words with her own statement, believed to be the first from her family since her daughter passed away. “This word was used publicly at a time when my family was tender and freshly wounded. Grieving,” Ziegler wrote. “Such strong public criticism from people we do not know, have never met, is more than a slap in the face. It is like kicking us as we struggle to draw a breath.”

  • Brittany Maynard’s Mom Says Vatican Lumped Her in With Pedophiles

    Brittany Maynard chose to die on her own terms. The terminally ill woman moved to Oregon where she would have the option to end her own life without the interference of a local government. Maynard and her family got to work on her bucket list as the world watched. When her disease advanced far enough that she felt it would go downhill fast, Maynard took medicine that ended her life.

    Maynard’s decision became the subject of much scrutiny and judgment before she died. But once it was done, everyone thought it was over.

    Then Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula spoke out about her death. The monsignor is the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life

    “Brittany Maynard’s gesture is in itself to be condemned [other translations read: “reprehensible”], but what happened in her conscience is not for us to know,” he said.

    “This woman [took her own life] thinking she would die with dignity,” he said, “but this is the error. Suicide is not a good thing. It is a bad thing because it is saying no to life and to everything it means with respect to our mission in the world and toward those around us.”

    Now Maynard’s mother is shooting back at the Vatican over these comments.

    She decried “individuals and institutions that have tried to impose their personal belief system on what Brittany and our family feel is a human rights issue.”

    “To censure a personal choice as reprehensible because it does not comply with someone else’s belief is immoral. My twenty-nine-year-old daughter’s choice to die gently rather than suffer physical and mental degradation and intense pain does not deserve to be labelled as ‘reprehensible’ by strangers a continent away who do not know her or the particulars of her situation.”

    “’Reprehensible’ is a harsh word. It means: ‘very bad; deserving very strong criticism.’ Reprehensible is a word I’ve used as a teacher to describe the actions of Hitler, other political tyrants and the exploitation of children by pedophiles.”

    “This word was used publicly at a time when my family was tender and freshly wounded. Grieving. Such strong public criticism from people we do not know, have never met – is more than a slap in the face. It is like kicking us as we struggle to draw a breath.”

    “People and institutions that feel they have the right to judge Brittany’s choices may wound me and cause me unspeakable pain but they do not deter me from supporting my daughter’s choice. There is currently a great deal of confusion and arrogance standing in the way of Americans going gently into the good night. I urge Americans to think for themselves.”

  • Brittany Maynard’s Mother Speaks Out Against Critics of Her Daughter’s Decision to Die

    Brittany Maynard’s Mother Speaks Out Against Critics of Her Daughter’s Decision to Die

    Brittany Maynard‘s mother, Debbie Ziegler, is speaking out against comments made about her daughter’s decision to die.

    In particular, she addressed a Vatican official who called terminally ill Maynard’s choice “an absurdity” and “reprehensible.”

    “My 29-year-old daughter’s choice to die gently rather than suffer physical and emotional degradation and intense pain does not deserve to be labeled as ‘reprehensible’ by strangers a continent away who do not know her or the particulars of her situation,” Ziegler wrote in a letter released Tuesday by Compassion & Choices.

    Maynard, 29, who moved to Oregon with her family because of the state’s Death with Dignity Act, legally ended her own life on Nov. 1 with a fatal dose of barbiturates prescribed by a doctor.

    Three days later, Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told the ANSA news agency that “dignity is something other than ending one’s own life.”

    Ziegler took great offense to the Catholic church official’s remarks and felt compelled to express her outrage over the comments.

    “‘Reprehensible’ is a word I’ve used as a teacher to describe the actions of Hitler, other political tyrants and the exploitation of children by pedophiles,” wrote the former eighth-grade science teacher.

    “As Brittany Maynard’s mother, I find it difficult to believe that anyone who knew her would ever select this word to describe her actions,” she wrote.

    “Brittany was a giver. She was a volunteer. She was a teacher,” she wrote. “She was an advocate. She worked at making the world a better place to live.”

    She also made it known that his comments were inappropriately made so soon following Maynard’s passing.

    “This word was used publicly at a time when my family was tender and freshly wounded. Grieving,” she wrote.

    “Such strong public criticism from people we do not know, have never met, is more than a slap in the face,” she wrote. “It is like kicking us as we struggle to draw a breath.”

    Ziegler called on Americans to support her daughter’s choice and the right for others like Maynard, who choose to die with dignity.

    “I urge Americans to think for themselves,” she wrote. “Make your wishes clear while you are competent … Misguided doctors caught in an aspirational belief that they must extend life, whatever the cost, cause individuals and families unnecessary suffering.”

    “It’s why Brittany started her campaign in the first place,” she said.

    “Brittany stood up to bullies,” she wrote. “She never thought anyone else had the right to tell her how long she should suffer. The right to die for the terminally ill is a human rights issue. Plain and simple.”

  • Brittany Maynard Dies, Leaves Hard Questions Behind

    Brittany Maynard died on Saturday, peacefully and surrounded by her husband, parents, and her best friend.

    The lovely young newlywed captured the attention of the everyone in the nation. Then everyone seemed to zealously take one side or another on her choice.

    Despite mostly religious cries that she was doing the wrong thing or sinning by taking her own life, she made the difficult decision to die on her own terms.

    For example, Maggie Karner, a woman with the same kind of brain cancer that was slowly taking Brittany Maynard’s life, posted an open letter to Maynard on YouTube.

    In it she says, “All of us are feeling your loss, your pain. Nobody is judging, but people are watching.”

    She then compared Maynard to a jumper on a ledge.

    “What would happen if our society decided to yell to that ledge jumper, ‘Yeah, you’re right, there isn’t a better way. Go ahead,’” Karner asked.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7BWM1JKIBk

    In an interesting turn of metaphor, Benjamin L. Corey, of Patheos, also eloquently compared Brittany to a jumper.

    But, not just any jumper, the iconic “Falling Man” featured in a 9/11 photo by Richard Drew.

    You probably remember the startling and disturbing images, and sounds, of people hitting the pavement and lower roofs on the live footage of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. Corey likens Brittany Maynard to those jumpers in that they didn’t choose to die, but they did choose how they would die.

    Instead of suffocating in the heavy smoke or burning to death in the flames, they chose an inevitable end to their lives that would be quicker and less painful. Yet, Corey points out, no one rose up and called their actions wrong or sinful.

    In fact, the cause of their deaths was listed as homicide by blunt force trauma.

    A spokesman from the New York City medical examiners office put it this way, “Jumping indicates a choice, and these people did not have that choice.”

    She added, “That is why the deaths were ruled homicide, because the actions of other people caused them to die…”

    Brittany Maynard’s situation has polarized the country like not very many issues can. What do you think about her choice?

  • Brittany Maynard Ended Own Life on Saturday

    Brittany Maynard, the terminally ill Oregon woman who became the public face of the right-to-die movement, took her own life at her Portland home on Saturday, with her husband, her mother, and her stepfather by her side.

    People reports that Maynard’s Facebook page features a poignant message from the young woman.

    “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more,” she wrote. “The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type … Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!”

    It was last spring when doctors told Brittany Maynard that she likely had about six months to live following the diagnosis of stage 4 glioblastoma. She quickly became a household name following her announcement that she intended to die of her own choosing, as allowed by Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. She planned to take a fatal dose of barbiturates, prescribed to her by a doctor, when her suffering became too great.

    Saturday was that day. It was the day Brittany Maynard had planned to die, but a few days prior had said she might stick around for a while longer.

    “If Nov. 2 has come along and I’ve passed, I hope my family is still proud of me and the choices I made,” Maynard said in a video, which was released by Compassion & Choices–the nonprofit working to expand end-of-life options. “And if Nov. 2 comes along and I’m still alive, I know that we’ll just still be moving forward as a family out of love for each other, and that the decision will come later.”

    Sadly, it’s November 2nd, and Brittany Maynard is gone. So is her suffering, and it is for that reason it seems we are supposed to feel a sense of peace. Some may and some may not–but it isn’t for us to decide. If Brittany Maynard, her husband and her family felt that peace as she ended her life on Saturday, then that is what matters most.

    How do any of us know what we might do when faced with a similar situation?

    An obituary is posted at The Brittany Fund website.

  • Brittany Maynard Announces Suicide Postponement [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: It has now come to light that Brittany Maynard chose to end her own life after this article was published at nearly midnight Eastern Standard Time on Saturday. Our thoughts are with Maynard’s family.

    Terminal cancer patient Brittany Maynard made headlines when she decided to move with her family from California to Oregon so that she could take advantage of that state’s Death With Dignity Act. This would give her the option to take life-ending medication if her final days with cancer became unbearable.

    Maynard had set a date for when she wished to die. That date was today, Saturday, November 1.

    Her story attracted the attention of people from both sides of the “right to die” issue. Some urged her to not take her own life, but to hang on until the cancer took her.

    Maynard had a “bucket list.” She completed that list earlier this week with a trip to the Grand Canyon. While on that trip, she experienced another in a long line of seizures that are a symptom of her cancer.

    “The seizure was a harsh reminder that my symptoms continue to worsen as the tumor runs its course,” she wrote in a blog post. “My dream is that every terminally ill American has access to the choice to die on their own terms with dignity,”

    Maynard has since spoken in more detail about the seizures.

    “Most recently, my most terrifying set of seizures was about a week or so ago,” she said. “I had two in a day, which was unusual, and I remember looking at my husband’s face at one point thinking, ‘I know this is my husband and I can’t say his name.’”

    But Maynard seems to have backed off a bit from her deadline, saying that she still feels good enough to spend a little more time with her family. She is not backing down from her resolve to end her own life, when she sees fit.

    “If November 2 has come along and I’ve passed,” she says in a recent video post, “I hope my family is still proud of me and the choices I made. And if November 2 comes along and I’m still alive, I know that we’ll just still be moving forward as a family out of love for each other, and that the decision will come later.

    “I still feel good enough and I still have enough joy and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn’t seem like the right time. Right now. But, it will come because I feel myself getting sicker. It’s happening each week.”

  • Brittany Maynard to Stay Longer, Won’t Die Nov. 1st

    Brittany Maynard has released a new video, following her recent bucket list trip to the Grand Canyon. In it she says she is feeling like she can withstand a bit more living, and thus won’t end her life as planned on November 1st. In the video, released on Wednesday evening, the 29-year-old, who is afflicted with an incurable type of brain cancer, said she hopes her family is still proud of her–regardless of her choice.

    “If Nov. 2 has come along and I’ve passed, I hope my family is still proud of me and the choices I made,” Maynard says in the video, which was released by Compassion & Choices–the nonprofit working to expand end-of-life options. “And if Nov. 2 comes along and I’m still alive, I know that we’ll just still be moving forward as a family out of love for each other, and that the decision will come later.”

    Brittany Maynard and her husband Dan Diaz–along with her mom and stepfather–moved from California to Oregon following her diagnosis because ‘aid-in-dying’ is legal there.

    “I still feel good enough and I still have enough joy and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn’t seem like the right time right now,” she says in the video that was released to CNN. “But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It’s happening each week.”

    Brittany Maynard’s story spread rapidly on social media after she revealed her plans to take a combination of medications that will end her life. Her first video–explaining her choice–has gotten more than 8.8 million views on YouTube thus far. Maynard has become a prominent spokeswoman for the “death with dignity” movement, which advocates that terminally ill patients be allowed to receive such medications that will let them die on their terms. On the other hand, she has also received lots of criticism for her decision.

    Dave Watson is the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Staten Island.

    “We believe she’s made in the image of God, we believe that God determined when she would be born and God should determine when she’s going to die,” he told CNN earlier in October. “I certainly sympathize. And when I read the story, I prayed for the woman and her family. I can’t imagine the agony for a decision like this. But I don’t think that necessarily we’re saying the right things about death.”

    Should we tamper with what some consider to be God’s will? Or should we support those who wish to die with dignity?

    “There but for the grace of God…,” John Bradford said centuries ago.

    If we’re fortunate enough to not face such a harrowing ordeal, we should probably not judge–but count our blessings instead.

    Brittany Maynard and her family are likely counting theirs–one for every day she remains in their fold.

  • Brittany Maynard Making the Most of the Time She Has Left to Live, Visits Grand Canyon

    Brittany Maynard, who has made the decision to end her life before her terminal cancer does it for her, is making the most out the time she has left to live.

    The 29-year-old has been busy with her remaining days, advocating for death with dignity legislation and continuing to pursue her love for travel and adventure.

    This week, in what her mother called “her last hurrah,” Maynard checked off an item at the top of her bucket list — to visit the Grand Canyon.

    “Thanks to the kindness of Americans around the country who came forward to make my ‘bucket list’ dream come true. The Canyon was breathtakingly beautiful, and I was able to enjoy my time with the two things I love most: my family and nature,” Maynard said in a statement.

    In a video she made explaining her decision to end her life, Maynard said one of the dreams she hoped to realize before she died was to see the Grand Canyon.

    “I hope to enjoy however many days I have on this beautiful Earth and spend as much of it outside as I can surrounded by those I love,” she said in the video.

    Maynard has created quite a buzz in the ongoing national debate on right to die laws when she announced she would take her life by Nov. 1.

    Diagnosed with glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer, earlier this year, Maynard moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Portland, Oregon because it is one of five states in the U.S. that have death with dignity laws.

    Her diagnosis and health has not deterred the seasoned world traveller over the past few months. She has visited Alaska and Yellowstone National Park, and now she has added the Grand Canyon to her travel portfolio.

    Maynard initially chose Nov. 1 as the date to possibly end her life because she wanted to be able to celebrate her husband’s Oct. 26 birthday.

    However, she says she will determine the exact date to end her life depending on how the cancer progresses.

  • Brittany Maynard Visits Grand Canyon, Seminarian and Christian Speaker Pray She’ll Reconsider

    Brittany Maynard crossed yet another milestone off her bucket list this week when she paid a visit–along with her husband, mother, and stepfather–to the Grand Canyon. The trip was a difficult one and she reportedly had one of her worst seizures ever following the trip.

    “Thanks to the kindness of Americans around the country who came forward to make my ‘bucket list’ dream come true,” she wrote in a statement. “The Canyon was breathtakingly beautiful, and I was able to enjoy my time with the two things I love most: my family and nature.”

    “Sadly, it is impossible to forget my cancer … and unfortunately the next morning I had my worst seizure thus far,” she added. “My speech was paralyzed for quite a while after I regained consciousness. The seizure was a harsh reminder that my symptoms continue to worsen as the tumor runs its course. However, I find meaning and take pride that the Compassion & Choices movement is accelerating rapidly.”

    Brittany Maynard has decided to end her life on November 1st. She suffers from a brain tumor that is slowly, but surely taking her life. She wants to ‘die with dignity,’ with her husband and parents at her side. Some people are completely in tune with her choice. Others are praying she will–even at the last minute–change her mind about taking her own life.

    Philip Johnson is also suffering from an incurable form of brain cancer. The 30-year-old is a Catholic seminarian who wants very much to live long enough to serve people as a priest. He wrote a letter just a few days ago to Brittany Maynard that he titled, ‘Dear Brittany, Our Lives Are Worth Living Even With Brain Cancer.’

    “I have lived through six years of constant turmoil, seizures, and headaches. I often changed hospitals and doctors every few months, seeking some morsel of hope for survival. Like Brittany, I do not want to die, nor do I want to suffer the likely outcome of this disease. I do not think anyone wants to die in this way. Brittany states relief that she does not have to die the way that it has been explained that she would – she can die “on her own terms.” I have also consulted with my doctors to learn how my illness is likely to proceed. I will gradually lose control of my bodily functions at a young age, from paralysis to incontinence, and it is very likely that my mental faculties will also disappear and lead to confusion and hallucinations before my death. This terrifies me, but it does not make me any less of a person. My life means something to me, to God, and to my family and friends, and barring a miraculous recovery, it will continue to mean something long after I am paralyzed in a hospice bed. My family and friends love me for who I am, not just for the personality traits that will slowly slip away if this tumor progresses and takes my life,” Johnson writes.

    “…Suffering is not worthless, and our lives are not our own to take. As humans we are relational – we relate to one another and the actions of one person affects others. We do not seek pain for its own sake, but our suffering can have great meaning if we try to join it to the Passion of Christ and offer it for the conversion or intentions of others. While often terrifying, the suffering and pain that we will all experience in our lives can be turned into something positive. This has been a very difficult task for me, but it is possible to achieve.”

    Joni Eareckson-Tada is the founder of a ministry called Joni and Friends. It is dedicated to extending the love and message of Jesus Christ to people who are affected by disabilities around the world. Joni became a quadriplegic after a swimming accident in her teens and has also battled breast cancer.

    Eareckson-Tada also wrote an open letter to Brittany Maynard, pleading with her to rethink her plan.

    “The hours are ticking away; please, Brittany, open your heart to the only One who can do something about your pain and death,” Eareckson-Tada said in a blog post on her website.

    “Life is the most irreplaceable and fundamental condition of the human experience, and I implore you to take a long, hard look at the consequences of your decision which is so fatal, and worst of all, so final,” she added.

    Brittany Maynard moved to Oregon because it is one of only five states that allow people the ‘right to die.’ Her family backs her decision.

    No one knows what Brittany Maynard or her family will experience in the next few days–those leading up to November 1st when she plans to end her life. No one knows what her family will experience in the days after the fact.

    If Brittany Maynard were your loved one, which way do you expect you might go? Would you–like Philip Johnson and Joni Eareckson-Tada beg her to rethink her decision? Or would you resolve to watch her end her suffering from this disease that will wind up taking her life regardless of what is decided?

  • Brittany Maynard Nears Date Of Death, Champions Death By Dignity Act

    November 1 is the date that 29-year-old Brittany Maynard has chosen to end her life. Maynard was diagnosed with one of the deadliest forms of cancer, Gliobastoma, on New Year’s Day of 2014. After undergoing partial craniotomy and a partial resection of her temporal lobe, Maynard was told in April that she only had six months to live. Instead of choosing to get treatment that would render her physically unable to enjoy her last days alive, Maynard and her husband Dan Diaz then chose to move from California to Oregon, which is one of five states in the US with a “Death With Dignity Act.”

    Maynard is relieved that the option of a physician-assisted suicide assures her that she doesn’t have to go through periods of losing consciousness or losing her speech, which are effects of having a brain tumor. However, she has already had to live with the dramatic changes brought on by her illness, from experiencing seizures and gaining 25 pounds to giving up her dream of having children and her valued teaching job.

    Her story has reignited the debate on physician-assisted suicide, and made Maynard the target of criticism due to religious concerns about the issue. “I struggle to even think of this woman’s plan to end her own life prematurely, as courageous. Because it is not. Rather it is anything but. In fact, in my mind, it is a self-destructive act of selfish cowardice to end your own life before God’s perfect timing,” wrote Chaplain Adele M. Gill on Catholic Online.

    Only Washington, Oregon, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico allow physician-assisted suicide, but the organization for which Maynard now volunteers, Compassion & Choices, is reportedly working to make it legal in other states. Maynard recounted how moving to Oregon to avail of death by dignity required a tremendous amount of resources and support from friends and family that may not be available to other people. “I had to find new physicians, establish residency in Portland, search for a new home, obtain a new driver’s license, change my voter registration and enlist people to take care of our animals, and my husband, Dan, had to take a leave of absence from his job. The vast majority of families do not have the flexibility, resources and time to make all these changes,” Maynard said.

    “I didn’t launch this campaign because I wanted attention; in fact, it’s hard for me to process it all. I did this because I want to see a world where everyone has access to death with dignity, as I have had. My journey is easier because of this choice,” said Maynard.

  • Brittany Maynard Talks About Her Death Decision

    Brittany Maynard has less than one month to live, but her terminal brain cancer won’t be taking her life. Maynard has decided to end her own life rather than endure a long, painful death at the hands of cancer.

    Maynard announced to the media earlier this month that she intends to take her own life on November 1. She and her husband this year moved to Oregon, one of the few states where assisted suicide is legal. In a recent editorial published by CNN Maynard revealed that she is already in possession of the doctor-prescribed drugs that will end her life. From the editorial:

    I’ve had the medication for weeks. I am not suicidal. If I were, I would have consumed that medication long ago. I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms.

    In January Maynard was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She underwent a partial craniotomy to remove the tumor, but the surgery didn’t succeed. Maynard’s cancer was back by April and doctors gave her only six months to live. Instead of facing months of radiation therapy, pain, and possible cognitive difficulties Maynard chose to forego treatment and seek out a “death with dignity” option.

    Maynard recently spoke again with People to describe her final vacation plans. She told the publication that she and her family had a “beautiful day” driving through Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Maynard’s mother stated that a trip to the Grand Canyon was also possible before the end of the month.

    Post by Compassion & Choices.

    Maynard’s decision has become a rallying cry for advocates of assisted suicide. The topic has been largely absent from U.S. political debate in recent years, but Maynard’s story looks to bring more attention to the topic. Maynard has partnered with Compassion and Choices, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting assisted suicide, to create The Brittany Maynard Fund. Maynard recently posted an update to the fund’s blog, urging people to support the cause and help those who would otherwise die in pain.

    I didn’t launch this campaign because I wanted attention; in fact, it’s hard for me to process it all. I did this because I want to see a world where everyone has access to death with dignity, as I have had. My journey is easier because of this choice.

  • Brittany Maynard Has Chosen The Day She Will Die

    Brittany Maynard Has Chosen The Day She Will Die

    Brittany Maynard has always been a very active woman, participating in marathons, climbing mountains, and traveling the world. However, since she found out that she has stage four glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor, her life has had to slow way down.

    Rather than die a slow and painful death, Maynard has decided that she will decide how and when she will die, doing it on her own terms not her tumor’s.

    On November 1, Brittany will end her own life with drugs prescribed to her by her doctor. However, she wants it to be known that she is not committing suicide. There is no cure for her disease and she does not want to suffer. She wants to be able to die with dignity.

    “There is not a cell in my body that is suicidal or that wants to die,” she told People. “I want to live. I wish there was a cure for my disease but there’s not.”

    “My glioblastoma is going to kill me, and that’s out of my control,” she said. “I’ve discussed with many experts how I would die from it, and it’s a terrible, terrible way to die. Being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying.”

    On Monday, Maynard released a video campaign with the group Compassion & Choices that advocated for people who want to die with dignity. The video includes interviews with Brittany, her husband, and her mother. She says they have all gone through a very difficult cycle to come to accept Brittany’s decision, but they are now fully supportive.

    “My entire family has gone through a cycle of devastation,” she continued. “I’m an only child – this is going to make tears come to my eyes. For my mother, it’s really difficult, and for my husband as well, but they’ve all supported me because they’ve stood in hospital rooms and heard what would happen to me.”

    After discovering that Brittany only had a short time to live, Brittany’s entire family uprooted their lives and moved to Portland, Oregon so that she would be eligible for Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act,

    “The amount of sacrifice and change my family had to go through in order to get me to legal access to death with dignity – changing our residency, establishing a team of doctors, having a place to live – was profound,” she said.

    Brittany is spending what time she has left to advocate for those people who do not have a choice like she does. “I believe this choice is ethical, and what makes it ethical is it is a choice,” she added. “The patient can change their mind right up to the last minute. I feel very protected here in Oregon.”

    To read Brittany’s full story click here.