Brittany Maynard, the newly-wed 29-year-old right-to-die campaigner, passed away last night in her home in Oregon. After suffering from intense migraines for years, Maynard had been diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier this year, and doctors gave her six months to live. From early on in her diagnosis she announced that she would be moving to Oregon to avail of their physician- assisted suicide under the state's Death With Dignity Act.
Resolute in her decision, she had become a high-profile spokesperson for Compassion and Choices, an end-of-life choice advocacy group, who said she passed away "surrounded by close family and loved ones."
Earlier last month in an interview with People Magazine, Maynard defended her right to assisted suicide by saying, "For people to argue against this choice for sick people really seems evil to me. They try to mix it up with suicide and that's really unfair, because there's not a single part of me that wants to die. But I am dying." She had released two videos focusing on her pro-euthanasia decision, and on her wedding and recent completion of a bucket-list.
Maynard had said she would postpone her decision to end her life recently, since it “still had enough joy.” But a series of stroke-like symptoms she suffered in the last few weeks led her to make the decision last night.
She wrote on her Facebook page, “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more.”
She is recognised for having given new energy to the assisted suicide campaign worldwide.