Many people say that no one knows the hour of a person's death-but not Brittany Maynard. The 29-year-old married woman diagnosed with brain cancer had already scheduled it to happen on November 1.
Maynard is just one of the growing number of people who opted to take advantage of the Death with Dignity Act, a law that allows patients suffering from a debilitating disease such as cancer and only have 6 months or less to live to die on their own terms by taking a certain prescription.
In an op-ed published in CNN on October 8, she narrated how she started to develop severe headaches after being newly married to 42-year-old Dan Diaz. It went on for months until she got herself examined and received a positive diagnosis of brain cancer on January 1, 2014, and was given around 3 to 10 years to live. She initially underwent surgery to prevent the tumor from spreading. However, in April, her doctor told her that she was actually suffering from glioblastoma multiforme, the most fatal and aggressive type of brain cancer. Her prognosis went from 10 years to only 6 months to live as she was already in stage 4.
She and her family looked for possible treatments only to end up with no solid solutions. Aware that she may not last really long, she initially thought of dying in a hospice in San Francisco, where she lived, but since she was still young and generally healthy other than the growing brain tumor, she may only die a long and painful death.
It was then she started doing research about end of life and discovered states such as Oregon and Vermont have the Death with Dignity Act.
To take advantage of it, she moved her family from California to Oregon and established residency, including buying a home, finding new doctors, and getting a new driver's license and voter's registration. Her husband also took a leave.
She then later consulted a doctor who provided her with a medication that will end her life whenever she's ready. She carried it for some time until she decided to do it on November 1 so she can still celebrate her husband's birthday on October 26.
She's also planning to die in the bedroom she shared with her husband in their new home surrounded by chosen loved ones.
According to her, being provided with this type of choice gave her relief and peace.
Aside from spending more time in the outdoors and in the company of her loved ones, she's also volunteering for Compassion & Choices. She also set up the Brittany Maynard Fund that will push the creation of death-with-dignity laws in other states, including California.
