Nov 5, 2014 2 min read

In news that got the nation talking, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor earlier this year, ended her own life on Nov. 1, the day that she had planned to do so.

The tumor caused severe headaches, seizures and stroke-like symptoms – all of which got progressively worse as the disease progressed. There were times that she couldn’t retain her balance and times that she couldn’t remember her husband’s name. Maynard and her family relocated to Oregon, which is one of five states with aid-in-dying laws.

Anyone who has watched a loved one waste away from cancer knows how difficult and painful – physically, emotionally and mentally – the process is. In opting to end her life Nov. 1, Maynard spared herself and her loved ones some of that pain. But, that is not to say that they aren’t going through the wringer now.

Imagine knowing that the last meal you share with your wife will be her last meal. Imagine knowing you are hugging your daughter for the last time. Imagine waking up in the morning and knowing that today will be the day that you die, or the day that your sister/best friend/niece/aunt/et cetera, dies. Imagine sitting by her bedside as she ingests a lethal drug cocktail and watching it kick in.

These things are heart-wrenching, and we wouldn’t wish such a fate on anyone. But, we do advocate for the option to be available for those who are terminally ill.

Her Oct. 9 statement to NBC News sums up her decision: “I’m not killing myself. Cancer is killing me. I am choosing to go in a way that is less suffering and less pain.”

She was quick to admit that she did not, in fact, want to die. But the cold, hard reality was that she was, in fact, dying. It was only a matter of time before she passed, and she chose to forgo the worst of the intense suffering.

We respect that choice.