Brittany Maynard, the fresh voice of the “Death with Dignity Campaign,” took her own life Saturday at the age of 29.
“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. The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type … Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!” she wrote in her final Facebook message.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer, shortly after her wedding when she started having major headaches. Rather than undergo chemotherapy, she chose to end her own life with a prescribed dose of barbiturates. In order to do so, she had to move her entire family to Oregon, where they have passed an act that allowed her to “die with dignity.”
She originally said she would die on November 1st, two days after her husband’s birthday, but had posted a video earlier this week saying she might not do it on that day. She later visited the Grand Canyon to cross the last thing off of her bucket list. Maynard had also been doing a video ad campaign with Compassion and Choices, an organization that campaigns for right-to die laws nationwide.
Maynard admitted that the glioblastoma was “going to kill [her] and that’s out of [her] control,” and it was going to be a “terrible, terrible way to die. So being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying.”
“I am not suicidal. If I were, I would have consumed that medication long ago. I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms,” she wrote in a blog post on CNN.
PopWrapped sends its condolences to Brittany Maynard’s family and friends.
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