#DieWithDignity

This is a rather touchy subject to me for many reasons, but I wanted to share something I read a couple weeks ago that is very good news. Actually, it's probably the best news I could have read due to the circumstances.

On February 15th 2015 The Supreme Court of Canada removed the ban on doctor assisted suicide. 

“A person facing this prospect has two options: she can take her own life prematurely, often by violent or dangerous means, or she can suffer until she dies from natural causes. The choice is cruel.”

It made me really happy to see that the Supreme Court was able to recognize this issue and make a change to allow people to end their suffering and leave this world with dignity. Like other good changes being made in our province and country, some people are against it for stupid reasons which I won't get into, but what I will get into is how important this is to me, personally.

The removal of this ban is important to me because a few years ago, 2012 to be exact, I had to watch my best friends mother slowly deteriorate, suffer, and die right in front of me. I couldn't do anything to help her. She was completely fine until one day she had a stomach ache that made her throw up.. she doesn't usually throw up so she went to a walk in clinic to see if she may have gotten food poisoning or something. They ended up doing blood work and a couple days later, the results came back. Her stomach ache was actually stage 3 Leukemia. She had been "sick" for a very long time without even knowing.. at the time of diagnosis, they told us it was terminal.
At this time, they told us the only thing they could "possibly" do to "maybe help in the time being" is chemo and radiation.
Let me remind you that she was sick for a long time without knowing, because she felt okay and was non symptomatic, even after being diagnosed, she still felt fine, even though she wasn't.
She started chemo thinking it was the only thing that could buy her some more time or that it would make her feel better later on.. but unfortunately chemo did nothing we hoped for. Instead, she got really sick, really fast. She came home and didn't leave bed for almost a week. My friend didn't drive so I had to take her every 2 weeks to the hospital. She started to lose her dark skin pigment and turn grey and white. She lost a lot of weight and she was tiny to begin with. She lost her hair. She lost her energy. She lost her appetite. She lost her will to do anything. Everything that she was, wasn't anymore. This just went on and got worse and worse to the point of needing to go into palliative care. They eventually stopped chemo and said it was doing more bad than good and it's too late to save her, so they would let he be in peace in palliative care.

A few weeks go by and she isn't able to speak to us anymore. She doesn't even open her eyes or wake up when we come to visit her. She was too weak. She was a beautiful mind and soul stuck in a body that didn't work. A body that was trying to kill her..
On our way to visit her, we were told to not come. I remember the feeling of my heart sinking into the bottom of my body like it was yesterday. I've never felt so robotic in my life. I didn't react, nor did Shauna, her daughter. Her aunt came out afterwards and simply said "she's gone." We just stood there in silence. Kay's gone? All of this.. just for her to be gone? Are you kidding me right now?

As we left.. all we could think of was the fact that she wasn't able to end her life while she was proud of it and herself, while she was well and healthy, while she was strong and had her dignity, she was never given the damn option to opt out while she good, instead, she was told either she suffers or suffers even more just to die as a vegetable in a hospital bed covered in wires and machines. Kay even said herself "I wish I didn't have to do all of this.. I wish I could just go to bed like this and not wake up."

That's what she said. That's what the Supreme Court is allowing now. It's too late for her, but unfortunately, I'm next. My mother is sick. She has cancer. Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. There is no treatment for it, there is no cure for it, there is no delaying it. Cells slowly build up in every inch of her body and when it's ready, it will attack. Its what they call "dormant cancer", meaning it starts off real slow, non symptomatic, while it builds up its cells so when its ready to attack, it's as quick as a couple weeks. When my mom told me she had cancer last year, I couldn't imagine anything other than reliving the year of hell I did with my best friends mom, but with my own. I had nightmares of watching the person I love most waste away before my eyes while I helplessly watch.. Now that this has happened, her, my dad, my brother and sister, and i, have had a sit down talk with her to discuss this. Before we could even bring it up, she said "Don't worry, you won't be seeing me suffer. I'm going to go when I'm good, you are hearing me say it now, it's what I want and it's what we will do as a family. I am going to go with pride and dignity and I refuse to suffer."

As fucked up as it is to hear your mom say she will be committing suicide, it eliminated my family's worst fear of watching her suffer. This new law that some people are complaining about, is everything Kay has ever wanted, is everything my mother and my family needs. It's an insanely incredible advancement in our society. We got rid of the ban on gay marriage and abortion, now we can chose how we die.. I think Canada is setting a really good example for others to follow.

source:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/supreme-court-rules-on-doctor-assisted-suicide/article22828437/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/06/supreme-court-of-canada-strikes-down-ban-on-doctor-assisted-suicide/