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Brittany Maynard Update: Terminally Ill Woman Says “It Doesn’t Seem Like The Right Time”

Dying With Dignity

After spending time with loved ones and crossing items off her bucket list, Brittany Maynard may have decided that she just isn’t ready to die just yet according to a report by NBC.

When doctors discovered Maynard had an aggressive form of brain cancer and gave here a mere months to live, the terminally ill woman marked her calendar for November 1. One day after her husband’s birthday, the day she wanted to die on her own terms, with dignity, without pain.

After a trip to the Grand Canyon, Maynard said that the time just isn’t right and she still has life to live, she hasn’t changed her mind because she can feel herself getting sicker – just not yet.

In her latest YouTube video, Maynard says: “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…But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It’s happening each week.”

[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Brittany Maynard” author_title=”On giving herself just a little more time “]

So if Nov. 2 comes along and I’ve passed, I hope my family is still proud of me and the choices I made…And if Nov. 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 decision will come later.

[/quote]

She describes having seizures that send her to the hospital and leave her unable to speak or say her husband’s name. She mentions that while she may not “look” like she is terminally ill, the body she knows now doesn’t feel like the same body she has known all of her life.

The 29-year-old moved to Oregon specifically because the state law allows doctors to prescribe a lethal drug cocktail to patients, allowing them to end their lives in the way they wish. Her move sparked a nation-wide debate with many people supportive of her decision but just as many who disapprove and have called her a coward or weak, words which she says are hurtful.

The Death With Dignity Act, established in 1907 was put in place specifically for cases like Maynard’s, the difference is her age. Since Dec. 31, 2013 750 people have used the law to end their lives, however the average age of the patient was 71.

With the time she has left, Maynard is advocating for nationwide right-to-die laws, at this time Oregon is only one of five states that has such acts on the books, New Mexico, Montana, Washington and Vermont are the others.

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