Brittany Maynard is a woman who made headlines by announcing her plans to schedule her own death via Oregon State's Death With Dignity Act. Maynard had originally said that she planned to take the medication that would end her life on November 1, but that she might postpone the date if she was feeling well then.
In a new video posted yesterday, Maynard revealed that she would probably extend the date further, because she didn't feel ready to die yet.
"I still feel good enough and I still have enough joy and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn't seem like the right time right now. But it will come, because I feel myself getting sicker. It's happening each week," Maynard said.
Because of her brain cancer, Maynard now experiences daily seizures, which terrify her. In the video, she describes one particularly violent seizure, which left her with temporary anomic aphasia. She said that she recognized her husband, but was unable to remember his name.
After being diagnosed with aggressive, terminal brain cancer last April, Maynard decided that she would rather choose how she dies than let her friends and family suffer through watching her prolonged and painful death from brain cancer. As brain cancer progresses, it ultimately robs the victim of the ability to communicate. Maynard wanted to be able to die before she reached that point.
Maynard originally shared her desire to choose her time of death as a way to create awareness for Compassion and Choices, an organization that supports the right to physician-assisted suicide. The Death With Dignity Act, an act which allows terminally ill people to receive a prescription to end their lives on their own terms, is still only legal in five states in America. Maynard had to move from her home in California to Oregon to take advantage of the act.
Maynard said in the new video that she has been feeling worse since she was first diagnosed with brain cancer, but that she is trying to make the most out of every day before she loses her autonomy. Recently, Maynard visited the Grand Canyon, checking that off of her bucket list.
