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By
Philip Nitschke
Sandy Williamson was diagnosed with
Motor Neurone Disease (MND) on that infamous day
of 11 September 2001. Nine months later, on 23
July 2002 Sandy took her own life with an overdose
of the barbiturate, Amytal.
MND is a cruel, and relentless neurological
disease which gradually destroys the body’s
muscle control, slowly paralysing the person
and trapping an active mind. Premature death
is inevitable, but the timing can vary greatly.
Even today, this is a disease for which there
is little treatment and no known cure. Patients
fear the inevitable dependency and the knowledge
that their options will contract with time. Sufferers
often contact Exit seeking advice on how they
can keep one particular option - the chance to
end their lives - if it gets too bad.
Diane Pretty is probably the most
well known MND sufferer of recent times. With her husband Diane challenged
the courts both in the UK and in Europe about
her right to die. She lost each legal battled
and died in mid 2002.
Sandy Williamson first contacted
me in late 2001. Still in her early 50s Sandy
had been a high-flyer in advertising, and she
knew the fate that was before her.
She knew that one day she would wake up paralysed. She
was terrified of all of a sudden losing the ability to
move her arms. If she wrtr not able to move her
arms, she would lose her chance to control her own destiny.
If Sandy wanted control she had to
act while she still had the movement of her arms.
To make her plight known, Sandy told Australian
60 Minutes her story and she did an interview
with The Age newspaper.
Sandy had previously stockpiled
the drugs she needed and on
one night in late July 2002 - while she could still
move her arms and bring the glass of water to
her mouth - she tried to take her own life.
However, the barbiturate Amytal
that she took acted very slowly and instead of
dying Sandy fell into a deep coma. In the morning
her sisters called the local doctor, who in turn
called an ambulance and the police.
Sandy would not die for another
4 days. Instead of dying peacefully in her own
home, she lay in intensive care, neither dead nor alive. Sandy was finally allowed to return
home where her fluids were switched off and she
finally got her peace.
I remember Sandy as a courageous
woman. Her attitude to dying is a sign of things
to come. A baby boomer, Sandy was angry at the
laws of Australia for making her die before she
was ready, but while she was still able. |
