Anne—like 2,000 other Australians—suffers from Motor Neuron Disease and says she is facing death in as soon as a year.
“I will be trapped inside my body with my same intellect, but unable to communicate, unable to feed myself, clean myself, or even move,” she explains on a Change.Org petition page.
Anne started the petition to call on Members of the NSW Parliament to allow her to die peacefully through voluntary euthanasia.
“You see, this disease always wins. It just keeps taking things from me until I eventually choke and or suffocate over a long drawn out and painful end,” she says.
“Unless you help me change the law, and grant me the right to choose to die peacefully at the end stage of this bastard disease. Don’t worry, I plan on milking every drop of life out of my existence, but I want the right to choose my ending.”
In a video posted on the petition page, Anne’s son Mikey also expresses his fears for the future.
“My fears for Mum, is her being trapped inside her own body and not being able to choose anything, not being able to exist,” he said.
At the time of writing, the petition has 38,989 supporters.
NSW Parliament will vote on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 later in the year.
“If it passes, it will allow terminally ill people like me, with only months to live, the option of an assisted death,” Anne says. “If I qualify under strict guidelines and safeguards, I could be prescribed life-ending medication and I would be in control of my death.”
You can view the petition at: Don’t leave me trapped in a dying body - allow me to die peacefully
For more information about Motor Neuron Disease visit: mndaust.asn.au/Home.aspx
