Woman Suffering Rare Cancer Takes Her Own Life In Oregon After Becoming Face Of Right-To-Die Movement
PORTLAND, Oregon (CBS SF) -- The woman who became the face of the right-to-die movement has taken her own life.
Brittany Maynard, who had been suffering from a rare cancer and moved to Oregon because of the state's Death with Dignity Act took her own life Saturday, after posting a goodbye note on her Facebook page, People Magazine reported.
"Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more," her Facebook post said. "The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type … Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!"
The newlywed, who was living in San Francisco at the time, learned she had terminal brain cancer last January after months of suffering from debilitating headaches. In April, UC San Francisco told her she had six months to live. Maynard has had her life-ending medication since shortly after that.
Earlier last month, Maynard released a YouTube video on her decision to move from her home state of California in order to access death with dignity laws in Oregon. The nonprofit Compassion & Choices is helping her chronicle her choice to die through a campaign to expand assisted suicide laws around the nation.
"The worst thing that could happen to me is that I wait too long. My most terrifying set of seizures was about a week or so ago," Maynard says in the video. "I remember looking at my husband's face at one point and thinking, 'I know this is my husband, but I can't say his name,' and ended up going to the hospital."
