In the days leading up to what would ultimately not be Brittany Maynard’s last day of life, planned to be Saturday, Nov. 1, she released a new video saying that the date may change depending on how she is feeling on a day-to-day basis.
“I still feel good enough. I still have enough joy. I laugh with my family and friends,” Maynard said in the YouTube video that was posted to her website, www.thebrittanyfund.org.
Maynard continued that, since her diagnosis earlier this year, she can feel herself getting sicker and sicker but did not give a solid answer if she would carry out the physician-assisted suicide.
Over the last thirty days, Maynard, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, has scheduled the date of her death as Nov.1. According to her website, she crossed the last location off her bucket list by visiting the Grand Canyon.
Tearful, Maynard talked about having the “worst seizure thus far … I could see my husband, but I could not say his name.”
Death with dignity was written into law in three states including Oregon in 1997, Washington in 2009 and Vermont in 2013.
“The worse thing that could happen to me is I wait too long because I am trying to seize each day,” Maynard said.
Maynard’s announcement has sparked criticism from some groups.
“I would say that it is the sanctity of life and encourage her to keep her life, to spend more and as much time with family and friends,” Joel Heslop, the area director of Jefferson County Young Life—a non-denominational Christian group, said. Heslop is a 2011 graduate of Shepherd University and director of Young Life on campus.
Maynard, a 29-year-old female, is a newlywed that moved from her home state of California to Oregon after she decided that she was not going to seek medical treatment for her terminal brain cancer, according to her website.
Maynard, in the video posted on her website, says that her goal would be to provide the same health care for everyone.
“Brittany recognizes it is unfair that the vast majority of people cannot access death with dignity because they do not have the resources and time to uproot their family, seek appropriate medical care and establish a support system,” according to her website.
“Overall as a nation we are uncomfortable with these types of situations,” Dr. Heidi Dobish, co-chair and associate professor of psychology at Shepherd University, said. Dobish specializes in developmental psychology.
“Everyone processes death individually. (Death) is really up to the person. I see it as a choice,” Dobish said.
According to Dobish, science has been able to prove and (medical) doctors have been able to give patients an estimated time of death with certain conditions.
“(People) grasp at straws, taking the side of science or the side of spirituality,” Dobish said.
Dobish stated that some people will never come to terms with death. Unlike Maynard, Dobish’s father was diagnosed with a terminal illness and he decided to fight until the end.
“It wasn’t until just a few days before,” Dobish said, that her father realized he was not going to be able to fight it.
“Most parents don’t bury their children,” Dobish said.
Parents teach (their children) to be independent and then to trust their decisions, Dobish added.
“It’s not my job to tell her how to live and die … it is to help her through it,” Maynard’s mom said in one of the recent videos posted to the website.
Dobish believed that people in general do not want the government to tell them how to live their lives. If a person in this situation chooses this, the law should not stop them.
“Some people will never come to terms with (death),” Dobish said.
“I would encourage and uplift. Give (the person) other options and offer hope. Surround them with family and friends, read scripture; uplift them in any way that I could,” Heslop said.
Heslop continued that with that encouragement, they could still do great things with the time they have left.
“Maybe reach out to others in the same situation,” Heslop said.
Maynard, wiping tears from her face, said that she hopes her husband will move on and become a father.
“If all my dreams came true, I would somehow survive this … but I most likely won’t,” Maynard said as the video finished with a black screen.
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