Cancer sufferer Brittany Maynard was told she had just six months to live and moved to Oregon - where assisted suicide is legal - where she planned to die
A terminally-ill woman who had decided on the date of her death has had a last-minute change of heart.
Cancer sufferer Brittany Maynard, 29, was told she has just six months to live and moved to Oregon – where assisted suicide is legal - where she planned to die surrounded by loved ones.
She was due to end her life tomorrow at a clinic in Portland but decided she was well enough to go on living for a little bit longer.
“I still feel good enough and I still have enough joy and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn’t seem like the right time right now,” she revealed in a video message.
“But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It’s happening each week.”
Weeks before her date she admitted there was a chance she’d change her mind about the timing.
She added: “If November 2 comes along and I’m still alive, I know that we’ll just still be moving forward as a family, like, out of love for each other and that that decision will come later."
In recent weeks, Maynard has mustered the strength to travel to Arizona and see the Grand Canyon, but remained in a fragile state.
On one day of the trip she suffered two seizures and could not say her husband’s name.
She said: “ 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.
"When I’m having a seizure and I can’t speak afterwards, I certainly feel as sick as I am."
Maynard said weeks ago that there was a chance she’d change her mind about the timing.
Shortly after her wedding last year she began experiencing debilitating headaches and on New Year's Day was told she had, at most, 10 years to live.
However, after undergoing invasive treatment to stop the growth of her tumour, in April Maynard was told it had returned, and was more aggressive.
Doctors told her she was not expected to live longer than another six months.
The 29-year-old said she is not committing suicide and that "not a cell" in her body is suicidal.
When she does decide to go through with the procedure, medication will give her a “peaceful and painless” ending to her life.
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act has allowed over 750 people to die using medication since 1997.
