A
29-year-old terminal cancer sufferer who had previously spoken of her
right to die has ended her own life surrounded by her family.
According
to friends and family of Brittany Maynard, she passed away in her
Portland, Oregon, home after her condition worsened and the tumor took
over.
However
she was able to choose to die before she lost her ability to function.
She completed her bucket list last week when she visited the Grand
Canyon.
People.com said she wrote on Facebook : '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.'
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'Today I chose to die with dignity':
According to friends and family of Brittany Maynard, she passed away in
her Portland, Oregon, home after her condition worsened. She was
surrounded by family and friends
Goodbye: The 29-year-old mother wrote on Facebook : 'Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love'
She
added: '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!'
Sean
Crowley, a spokesman for Compassion & Choices, said in a statement
late Sunday that Maynard died Saturday 'as she intended — peacefully in
her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones.'
Crowley
said Maynard 'suffered increasingly frequent and longer seizures,
severe head and neck pain, and stroke-like symptoms. As symptoms grew
more severe she chose to abbreviate the dying process by taking the
aid-in-dying medication she had received months ago.'
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Maynard
was diagnosed with stage IV glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form
of terminal brain cancer and in April doctors gave her just six months
to live.
She then made headlines around the world after announcing she intended to die under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act.
'But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It's happening each week.'
The
newlywed recently managed to tick visiting the Grand Canyon off her
bucket list after previously announcing that it was one place she hoped
to visit before she died.
Last
week she had revealed on her website that she had managed to travel
from her home in Oregon to Arizona with her husband, mother and
stepfather 'thanks to the kindness of Americans around the country who
came forward to make my 'bucket list' dream come true'.
In
her latest statement, a video produced by end-of-life choice advocacy
group Compassion & Choices, she acknowledges that some people have
been skeptical about her story.
'When
people criticize me for not waiting longer, or, you know, whatever
they've decided is best for me, it hurts,' she said, 'because really, I
risk it every day, every day that I wake up.'
Maynard
also revealed that her health has been deteriorating and described a
recent 'terrifying' day when she had two seizures and found herself
unable to say her husband's name.
'I
think sometimes people look at me and they think. 'Well you don't look
as sick as you say you are,' which hurts to hear, because when I'm
having a seizure and I can't speak afterwards, I certainly feel as sick
as I am,' she said.
Maynard
had previously said that she planned to take the medication she'd been
prescribed on November 1 because she wanted to celebrate her husband's
birthday on October 30.
'The
worst thing that could happen to me is that I wait too long because I'm
trying to seize each day,' she said, 'but I somehow have my autonomy
taken away from me by my disease because of the nature of my cancer.'
After her recent visit to the Grand Canyon, Maynard had written on her website in glowing terms about the experience.
'The
Canyon was breathtakingly beautiful, and I was able to enjoy my time
with the two things I love most: my family and nature,' she wrote.
Images taken at the Canyon show her kissing her husband, Dan, and embracing her mother and stepfather, grins across their faces.
Dream trip:
Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old cancer sufferer who will end her life
on November 1, is pictured with her husband Dan at the Grand Canyon - a
trip she had hoped to take before her death
Happy memories: Maynard, second right, and her husband were joined by her mother and stepfathe
Final days together: Maynard, who is an only child, is pictured with her mother, Deborah Ziegler, on the trip
But
just a day after the experience, she suffered her 'worst seizure thus
far', which left her temporarily paralyzed and tired for the rest of the
day.
'The seizure was a harsh reminder that my symptoms continue to worsen as the tumor runs its course,' she wrote.
She
finished the post by saying she found meaning in her battle for other
states to implement right-to-die laws, as Oregon and four other state
already have.
'My
dream is that every terminally ill American has access to the choice to
die on their own terms with dignity,' she wrote. 'Please take an active
role to make this a reality.'
Maynard gained nationwide attention after she shared a heart-wrenching video that explained why she was choosing to end her life at age 29 - while campaigning to expand right-to-die laws.
DO WHAT YOU CAN, WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, WHERE YOU ARE: BRITTANY'S TOUCHING OBITUARY BY HER FAMILY
The following is the official obituary from the family of Brittany Maynard.
Brittany
Lauren Maynard was born in 1984 and forged a brief but solid 29 years
of generosity, compassion, education, travel and humor. She happily met
her husband, Daniel Diaz, in April of 2007, and they married, as best
friends, five years later in September of 2012.
This
past year, on New Year's Day, Brittany was diagnosed with brain cancer.
She was given a terminal diagnosis for which there was no cure or
life-saving measures available. In the face of such illness and pain,
Brittany chose to live each day fully, traveled, and kept as physically
active and busy as she possibly could.
'Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.'
- Theodore Roosevelt. A formula to live by, sick or well.
After
being told by one doctor that 'she probably didn't even have weeks to
be on her feet,' she was found climbing 10-mile trails along the ice
fields of Alaska with her best friend in the sunshine months later.
'Speak your own truth, even when your voice shakes.' she would say.
Touching: The obituary said that when
Brittany was told she 'didn't even have weeks on her feet' she was found
climbing 10-mile trails along the ice fields of Alaska months later
Brittany
graduated from UC Berkeley as an undergrad, and received a Master's in
Education from UC Irvine. She believed in compassion, equity and that
people would remember most how you made them feel in life.
As
Faulkner said, 'Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and
truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If more
people all over the world would do this, the world would change.'
She
was an accomplished and adventuresome traveler who spent many months
living solo and teaching in orphanages in Kathmandu, Nepal. That single
experience forever changed her life and perspective on childhood,
happiness, privilege and outcomes.
Brittany
chose to make a well-thought-out and informed choice to die with
dignity in the face of such a terrible, painful and incurable illness
She
fell in love with her time in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore and
Thailand. She spent a summer working in Costa Rica, and traveled to
Tanzania, and summited Kilimanjaro with a girlfriend a month before her
wedding. She took ice-climbing courses on Cayambe and Cotopaxi in
Ecuador, and was an avid scuba diver who relished her time in the
Galapagos, Zanzibar, Caymans and pretty much any island she ever
visited.
She
loved her two dogs like family, a small Beagle and large Great Dane,
and was always the one to take in lost dogs and find them homes.
Brittany was a regular volunteer at a local animal rescue organization
before her diagnosis.
Brittany
chose to make a well-thought-out and informed choice to die with
dignity in the face of such a terrible, painful and incurable illness.
She moved to Oregon to pass away in a little yellow house she picked out
in the beautiful city of Portland. Oregon is a place that strives to
protect patient rights and autonomy; she wished that her home state of
California had also been able to provide terminally ill patients with
the same choice.
Brittany
chose to speak out and advocate for this patient right and option,
which she felt is an informed choice that should be made available to
all terminally ill patients across our great nation.
'The
freedom is in the choice,' she believed. 'If the option of death with
dignity is unappealing to anyone for any reason, they can simply choose
not to avail themselves of it. Those very real protections are already
in place.'
Lgeacy: She is survived by her
faithful, practical and kind husband, Daniel Diaz (right), her loving,
selfless mother, Deborah Ziegler, and honorable stepfather, Gary Holmes
With
great consideration, she gave personal interviews to the UK's Tonight
Show prior to death with dignity being addressed by their Parliament, as
well as participated in a U.S.-based campaign for death-with-dignity
education and legislation.
She
is survived by her faithful, practical and kind husband, Daniel Diaz,
her loving, selfless mother, Deborah Ziegler, and honorable stepfather,
Gary Holmes. And by Dan's loving, supportive family: parents, Carmen and
Barry, and brothers, David, Adrian and Alex, all of whom she adored and
loved very deeply. While she had longed for children of her own, she
left this world with zero regrets on time spent, places been, or people
she loved in her 29 years.
In
this final message, she wanted to express a note of deep thanks to all
her beautiful, smart, wonderful, supportive friends whom she 'sought out
like water' during her life and illness for insight, support and the
shared experience of a beautiful life.
'It
is people who pause to appreciate life and give thanks who are
happiest. If we change our thoughts, we change our world! Love and peace
to you all.'
'Suicide': On Twitter user said that Brittany had made the wrong decision ending her life
Controversial: Another agreed, saying she could not support the decision saying she was committing 'suicide'
Backing: Chris Mergerson supported her decision, saying it was 'her life and her decision'
Inspirational: Another sad she was inspired by her story and strength and thanked Brittany for sharing it
Ending her pain: One social media user said she hoped Brittany was not suffering anymore
Debilitating: A scan shows the Glioblastoma multiforme that would claim her life slowly within 14 months
She
explained that, after suffering intense headaches, she was diagnosed
with a brain tumor in January and was initially given 10 years to live,
which she said was devastating.
But in a scan a few months later, doctors told her the cancer had progressed to Glioblastoma multiforme - an aggressive tumor.
Sufferers have a life expectancy of around 14 months.
When
she learned that she would die painfully and slowly, she decided to
move from her home in California to Oregon, which has a 'Death with
Dignity Act'.
After
releasing her video, critics lambasted her as selfish, but in an
interview with CBS she said she was suffered immense pain - and wished
she didn't have to be making the decision.
Maynard said her biggest regret is that she will never get to have a family.
'I'd say most of my sadness centers around how much I wanted a family,' Maynard told CBS This Morning.
'And
it feels like for me, that was always, like, how you created a legacy
was, like, through your children. And sort of inadvertently - through
sharing my story, I've realized there's a bit of the legacy I'm creating
this way and I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed to attach my name
to what I think is a right that should belong to all terminally ill
Americans.'
'I
don't want to die,' Maynard explained. 'If anyone wants to hand me,
like, a magical cure and save my life so that I can have children with
my husband, you know, I will take them up on it.'
Time cut short: She is pictured with
her husband, Dan. He said he is devastated he cannot spend the rest of
his life with her, but understands she wants quality of life over
quantity
The couple on their wedding day a year
ago. Dan spoke of how sad he is that he will not get to spend the rest
of his life with the woman he married
She
also has made a deal with her mother, Debbie, that if she travels to
Machu Pichu in Peru after her passing, Brittany's spirit will meet her
up there among the breathtaking Inca ruins.
In
the same interview, Debbie, who raised Maynard on her own, talks about
the discussion she had about her daughter when she learned of her
decision.
'Early
on, I told her, 'It would be my honor to take care of you, whichever
way; if you need to be fed or diapered, it would be my honor,'' she
said.
'And that was important for me, for her to know.'
Maynard's
husband, Dan Diaz, also spoke about how sad he is that he will not get
to spend the rest of his life with the woman he married little over a
year ago.
'That
was the original plan, right?' he said. 'But the reality that, I guess,
that feeds into the argument of quality of life versus just
quantity.'
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