It\u2019s so obviously reasonable \u201d\u201c and kind. You wouldn\u2019t let your dog suffer if there was no hope, would you? \u201cIt\u2019s quite wrong that only people who can afford it and have the emotional wherewithal and the support to do it have this choice (to go to Switzerland and end their own lives),\u201d\u009d as Lord Falconer said on ITV News.<\/p>\n
I was diagnosed with a \u201d\u02dcmotor neurone disorder\u2019 13 years ago. It turned out to be Primary Lateral Sclerosis, the slowest and rarest form of MND. Over time my life has become progressively more restricted. No more walking in Snowdonia and the Lake District; no more camping with the family in France; no more squash, or cycling, or gardening. I stopped working. We had to move to a smaller house with a lift and a small garden. My wife who had now become my sole carer didn\u2019t have time to spend mowing lawns and growing beans. She is occupied getting me dressed and undressed, meeting my needs from toilet to teatime, from breakfast to bedtime.<\/p>\n
We might well be expected to support the Marris Bill to legalise assisted dying. After all, what quality of life do we have ahead of us? Wouldn\u2019t it be something to hold on to \u201d\u201c the possibility that when we\u2019d both had enough we could call time? But it\u2019s not all about me. Society is a network of relationships, of interdependence. Our actions are never without effects. That is why life is in fact so rich. My life, when I open my eyes to look, has not been impoverished by my disabling disease; it is deeper and fuller in a way I could not have foreseen. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easier. It\u2019s frustrating and painful; it can be depressing. But life is still good.<\/p>\n