SAN ANTONIO – Some family members of brain cancer victims and advocates of physician-assisted suicide are noting the death of a young woman named Brittany Maynard.
She died Saturday after taking doctor-prescribed barbituates in Oregon, a state she moved to because suicide for terminally ill patients is a legal option.
She wrote about her journey as a 29-year-old mother, wife and brain cancer patient and why she chose to end her life, rather than force her family to suffer through the brutal months of care and confusion caused by her rapidly progressing glioblastoma.
Locally, others who have lived through the experience of watching their loved ones die little by little are considering her motives, research and final decision.
One of them is Lacey Ball, a young woman who is still teary-eyed one year after her father passed away with the same disease.
While he did not choose to die the same way that Maynard did, Ball said he clearly had no reason to continue to live yet somehow saved her from a lot of pain. She remembers the last time he said, "I love you."
"It was just like we knew that was it. He was put in the hospital the next day and died a day later," Ball said. "It was like he spared me having me go through days and weeks of watching his body shutting down."
She said she doesn't think Maynard's decision was made lightly or easily.
"I don't think that my dad would have ... gone the way she did, but I absolutely understand her reasoning for doing it," said Ball. "She didn't think she had much good time left. Who am I to judge her?"
In Texas, physician-assisted suicide is illegal, but five states allow it. Some people, like Maynard, move to states like Oregon to establish residency, get a local doctor, and begin the process for just that reason.
Dr. Jason Morrow, Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Chair of the Ethics Committee at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio says Texas physicians like himself believe in "living with dignity".
Morrow is part of a Palliative Medical team at UTHSCSA. He says they go into action at diagnosis.
"Your symptoms are supported and your family is supported, if you survive, great," he said. "And then if you don't, then you have somebody there who can act as a guide to help ensure that you are comfortable and you have dignity at the end of your life."
Ball is continuing her own crusade to help those with glioblastoma and its effect on the family. She is planning a fundraiser in her father's name. Rhe Johnny Ball 5K Country Miler presented by Kuper Sotheby's International Realty. The race takes place Nov. 22 in Alamo Heights. Proceeds will directly benefit local families in Bexar County currently battling brain cancer through our partnership with Young Texans Against Cancer and ThriveWell Cancer Foundation.
