PEOPLE with a terminal illness should have the right to choose to die with dignity.
So says a Warwick woman who lost her husband to a brain tumour and who is now backing a campaign to change the law to allow assisted dying.
Rachel Pegler lost her husband Graham who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in 2009.
Now the 67 year-old, who previously worked as a community nurse and as a night sitter supporting terminally ill patients, is encouraging people to join the new group in support of a campaign to allow terminally ill people to die with dignity.
Rachel said: “Graham was diagnosed in January 2009 and passed away in March – he was 60 years old.
“We were devastated and just getting our heads round the diagnosis. It was such a shock as he was never ill.
“Having to deal with what he went through in his final weeks is something no dying patient and family should ever have to endure.”
Dignity in Dying campaigns for a change in the law to allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults with less than six months to live to have the option of a safe, legal assisted death.
The largest ever poll on assisted dying found eight out of ten people were in support of a change in the law.
All are welcome to attend the inaugural meeting of the Dying with Dignity Warwickshire group which takes place on Thursday March 16 from 6pm at the Pickard Street Community Centre in Warwick.
Email [email protected] to confirm attendance or for more information.
