Brittany Maynard was 29 years old and had been married for just a little more than a year. She was diagnosed with brain cancer. She had two surgeries one called partial resection and one for the temporal lobe. Doctors were trying to stop the growing of the tumor. Few months later around April the tumor came back but more aggressive. She was not going to last more than six months. Brittany’s tumor was so big that she had to have full radiation of the brain. She researched and knew there won’t be no cure for her problem.

Brittany’s body was young and healthy, so she did not want to go to hospice. She also did not want her family to watch her suffering. She decided to do research and found out Death with Dignity”. It was an end-of-life option for mentally competent, terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live. So she decided that death with dignity was the best option for her and her family. Following that she immediately had to move from California to Oregon, because Oregon is one of only five states where death with dignity is authorized. She was qualified to go through the process in Oregon. However she did not want to die, but she was dying and she wanted to die in her own terms. She believed that no one had the right to tell her that she did not deserve this choice. She also did not deserve to suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain. She did not want other to make the decision for her. Brittany felt better when she received the prescription for the drug and she felt relieved . She passed away few days after her husband’s birthday. As a human we never plan for the future and I understand that we are not prepared for any circumstance like this, but we should be strong and respect people's decisions. Unless we can promess the sick person that we would be there in good and bad, and that we would be holding their hand when they are in pain and they need somebody to talk to. 

I strongly agreed with her because she was the only person that had to decide. It was her body and I know it is hard for people to understand, but what people do not imagine is the amount of pain she was in as a cancer patient. Many people do not agree with her because they do consider that assisted suicide, but If I was in her shoes and I had the option I would have done exactly the same thing. SHE HAD THE RIGHT TO DIE.

Her experience impacted me in the way that made me think what would I do if I was in her shoes. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/opinion/maynard-assisted-suicide-cancer-dignity/

http://public.health.oregon.gov/ProviderPartnerResources/EvaluationResearch/DeathwithDignityAct/Pages/index.aspx