An Ayrshire grandmother with terminal cancer wants to be able to choose how she dies after seeing her dad suffer.
Norma Rivers, 69, wants to end her life on her own terms – and dreams of a peaceful death, surrounded by her family at home.
However, the reality of her rare blood cancer myeloma could leave the gran-of-three in agony in her final moments – just like her father George who died from stomach cancer in crippling pain.
Norma, who lives in Ayr, has watched cancer take her family with her gran, mother and brother also dying from the disease.
As her final round of life-enhancing chemotherapy draws to a close, the former bank worker says she would take matters into her own hands if assisted dying does not become law in Scotland.
Medics told Norma she only had five years to live in 2016. Now in the year she was told she would die, she wants the Scottish Government to back a Bill for assisted dying in Scotland.
Norma is joining hundreds of people across the country in urging the Scottish Parliament to back a Bill proposed by Liberal Democrat Orkney MSP Liam McArthur in September.
She has written to South Scotland MSPs to ask them to back the Assisted Dying Bill which is currently open to public consultation up to Wednesday, December 22.
Norma fears her dying days will be lived in fear and pain, something she wants to safeguard her family – daughter Leanne, 39, and husband David, 69.
And she has openly revealed she will take matters into her own hands if the Bill isn’t passed.
Originally from Edinburgh, Norma always knew she wanted to choose when she could die after watching her dad George suffer in his final days.
Norma, who is originally from Edinburgh, watched her beloved father die with cancer at the age of 80 in a hospice.
And tragically, her friend of 47 years was diagnosed with the same type of blood cancer at the same time as Norma, but died last year aged 64.
Norma told Ayrshire Live: “Watching my dad die was just a horrible experience.
“He was just lying there, he couldn’t speak, but he was pleading with his eyes.
“It was nil by mouth, nothing to eat, nothing to drink, it is not a nice way to die.
"The hospice he was in towards the end was lovely, the staff loved him and they did everything they could.
“They took away as much as we could realise, he was heavily sedated.
“It was nine days of watching him in that state, begging him to die so he would be out of his misery.
“That image will never leave me. People often say that when they see a loved one go through something like this, the way they die sticks with them.
“When I saw that I thought there is no way I am going to allow myself but mainly my daughter to see me like that.”
Twelve years after the harrowing experience of her dad’s death, Norma was told she had cancer after months feeling unwell.
After collapsing in Prestwick swimming pool, she was rushed to hospital where doctors told her the devastating news that she had incurable cancer and a prognosis of five years.
Knowing that she was dying, Norma immediately tried to look for a way to do it on her own terms.
The gran researched Dignitas – a non-profit facility in Switzerland where terminally-ill patients can pay for assisted suicide.
But at a cost of £10,000 for a package that includes a cremation, Norma is determined to allow others who are terminally ill to have the right to choose when and how in her own country.
Norma said: “The sad thing is I have been priced out of being able to choose when I can die.
“The Assisted Dying Bill would allow you to pick the time and die safely.
“It gives you the choice. When you are facing the end of your life, you should be able to make that choice.
“The type of cancer I have can change in an instant. In the next hour I could be at death's door if I end up with an infection.
“I’ve only got one more chemotherapy left that they can try. After this last round, no more treatments will work.
“When that stops I know I won't have long left.
“I have just been living in fear. All I ask if for a peaceful ending surrounded by my family.
“If the Bill isn’t passed before I die I will take matters into my own hands.”
Charity Dignity in Dying has told how some desperate terminally-ill people have opted to take their own life rather than suffer.
Research from the charity estimates that 650 terminally-ill people take their own life in the UK each year.
Norma said: “I have heard of people take their own life in the most horrific circumstances. Sometimes suicide doesn’t always work and they end up in a worse position.
“If I find myself in that much pain and I know I am in my final days I would do what I’ve got to do to end my suffering.”
Frances McFadden, campaigns and operations officer for Dignity in Dying Scotland, said: “No one should feel forced to consider ending their own lives in violent and lonely ways to avoid suffering needlessly at the end of life.
“Liam McArthur’s proposal gives Scotland the chance to rewrite the law on assisted dying, and give our terminally-ill citizens the option of a kinder, safer death.
“How we die matters, and I urge everyone to make their voices heard and respond to the consultation before it closes. I hope that MSPs will listen to the voices of their constituents who so desperately need this change.”
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