Terminally ill woman who moved to Oregon to end her life, delays assisted suicide

A 29-year-old terminally ill woman who moved to Oregon because of the state’s death-with-dignity law, now says she most likely will not take her life on November 1, as she originally planned.

Brittany Maynard released a new video Wednesday saying that despite her previous plan to end her life this Saturday, she was not yet feeling sick enough to take those final steps. She has advanced brain cancer.

“I still feel good enough, and I still laugh, 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 each week.”

In the video, Maynard addressed her critics who said she doesn’t appear to very sick, saying that she felt very sick, and had experienced one of her most serious seizures to date last week.

“Well, if all my dreams came true, I somehow survive this, but I most likely won’t,” Maynard said in the video.

Last week, Maynard completed the last item on her bucket list, a trip to the Grand Canyon.

More than 750 people in Oregon used the law to die as of Dec. 31, 2013. The median age of the deceased was 71. Only six were younger than 34, like Maynard.

Maynard has become an advocate for the group Compassion & Choices, which seeks to expand death-with-dignity laws around the nation. A nationwide media campaign featuring Maynard’s story has gone viral.

She posted photos of her visit to the Grand Canyon on the Compassion & Choices website.

In one photo she poses with her parents in front of the great rock formations. In another, she kisses her husband as they stand on the canyon’s rim. She’s wearing a pink sweater and sunglasses, and is smiling.

On Compassion & Choices’ website, Maynard wrote the trip was sponsored by “Americans around the country who came forward to make my ‘bucket list’ dream come true.”

Maynard’s family has said she has “wanderlust.” Since becoming ill, Maynard has traveled to Yellowstone National Park and to Alaska. In a video, Maynard said she wanted to visit Grand Canyon before her death.

Maynard wrote that the morning after the trip she had her “worst seizure thus far,” and her speech was paralyzed for a long time after she regained consciousness.

Maynard takes prescription drugs to reduce the swelling in her brain and to minimize seizures, but the drugs have side effects that include weight gain and swelling of the face.

Oregon in 1997 became the first state to make it legal for a doctor to prescribe a life-ending drug to a terminally ill patient of sound mind who makes the request. The patient must swallow the drug without help; it is illegal for a doctor to administer it.

Five states now allow patients to seek aid in dying: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico — though New Mexico’s attorney general is now appealing a ruling in his state that allows terminally ill patients to seek a physician’s help in dying.

There is no minimum residency requirement in Oregon to participate in the act, but a patient must prove state residency to a doctor. Some examples of documentation include a rental agreement, a voter registration card or a driver’s license.

Maynard has said she and her husband were newlyweds actively trying for a family when she learned on New Year’s Day that she had brain cancer. By spring, she was given six months to live.

“I didn’t launch this campaign because I wanted attention,” Maynard wrote. “I did this because I want to see a world where everyone has access to death with dignity, as I have had. My journey is easier because of this choice.”

Maynard has said she isn’t suicidal but wants to die on her own terms.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.