updated 6:10 AM EDT 10.28.14 Maynard ticks off last item on bucket list By Ralph Ellis, CNN SHARE THIS A A A (resize font) (CNN) - Brittany Maynard, the terminally ill woman who plans to take her own life November 1, has checked the last item off her bucket list. She visited the Grand Canyon last week. "The Canyon was breathtakingly beautiful," she wrote on her website, "and I was able to enjoy my time with the two things I love most: my family and nature." Photos showed her and her husband standing on the edge of the canyon, hugging and kissing. But her cancer reasserted itself. "Severe headaches and neck pain are never far away, and unfortunately the next morning I had my worst seizure thus far," she wrote on her website. "My speech was paralyzed for quite a while after I regained consciousness, and the feeling of fatigue continued for the rest of the day." Maynard, 29, had been married a year when she discovered she had an aggressive brain cancer. Last April, doctors said she had six months to live. She considered dying in a hospice, she wrote in an op-ed piece for CNN. "I quickly decided that death with dignity was the best option for me and my family," she wrote for CNN. "We had to uproot from California to Oregon, because Oregon is one of only five states where death with dignity is authorized." Maynard posted YouTube videos in which she and family members talked about her decision and supported an expansion of assisted suicide laws. She started an organization, Compassion and Choices, to promote that idea. ---------I don't think I could consciously kill myself but I do respect her right and decision to do so.
In this situation, where dying a slow and painful death is the outcome, I don't know what I would or could do. It is a really tough decision. And of course up to the individual. In this situation the person has consulted with family members. Not like someone committing suicide leaving family members bereft. I'm not even sure if it's right or wrong, but I do believe that dying with dignity and quality of life are important factors. No, after thinking about it, I'm not sure I could. I do believe this woman has the right to decide for herself.
I wanted Death with Dignity on Monday night. My SIL asked me if she could have a date over for Thanksgiving dinner, a dude she works with at Cabernet Restaurant/ 29 years old and named Fernando. I became immediately pale! My wife was bitching about the house being a mess. Cooper the 4 year old screaming he wants more ice cream for desert and I was the meanest daddy in the whole world, while throwing himself on the floor kicking. Cole the 6 year old telling me he was not getting a shower nor was he going to finish his homework and that he wants a new daddy. Joseph my 9 year old complaining because his bed time is 9:00 and he thinks it needs to be 10:00 Bailey and Zeus the two dogs barking non stop because of the chaos. In a very calm cool collected and always very debonair manner I turned to my wife and said my favorite saying "you gotta be fucking kidding me, it's 8:45 and this place is absolutely bananas" Had I had an IV and correct medication I may have just hooked it up.
I saw a debate about this on the news tonight. A very interesting discussion. From what I heard only 5 states allow such a thing and all you do is swallow 1pill. It is not an IV drip but a pill. The debate became what happens when a depressed but otherwise normally healthy person wants to engage in such behavior. I personally could not do it because I feel as long as there is life there is hope. I believe in miracles and prayer. Trisha
It was reported today that she may have had a change of mind. Glad that happened before she actually did it!
Cheryl, I didn't watch the news all weekend so I dont know. She looked healthy at the last interview I saw. That's very sad.
It is sad, but I wish if I were in her situation I would have the guts to do it. When you really think about it though, her family would have been just as sad if the tumor killed her two weeks from now. Maybe sadder, because they would have had to watch her die a horrible, painful death. She didn't want that for them and she didn't want it for herself. I'm glad she got to choose. I think there are a lot of people who would go the route Brittany did if they had that option after getting diagnosed with a terminal illness. A few years ago the brother of my best friend from high school was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A couple of weeks later, when he went missing, his son found him hanging from the rafters in an old barn on their property. Just imagine how much less painful it would have been for him and for his family if he'd had the same option Brittany had.