A British woman with terminal breast cancer has been euthanised 'on a beach in the sunshine' in New Zealand just days after urging the UK to change its laws on assisted dying, her friend has revealed.
'And then I'm going to go to a beach with the people I really love... and listen to the waves, see the sea, and put the rest of the medicine in', she added. She said she would feel 'such huge relief' that she is able to 'do it in that way,' adding she felt as if she had been given 'a massive gift', but did not reveal the beach the assisted death would take place at.
Last week, the British-New Zealand national told her fans in a brave statement: 'The closer it gets, the more peaceful I feel.'The alternative is to live for another couple of months or so but have an uncertain and painful death.' Tracy was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer - a form of cancer that is generally more aggressive than others
The mammogram had detected a malignant tumour in her left breast and within two hours a doctor was talking to her about a mastectomy and the possibility of chemotherapy. Then the seizures began in November 2022, when Tracy revealed 'I suddenly couldn't speak. I couldn't form sentences and I was numb down my side'.
An MRI of her back caught two tumours, and a following PET scan showed more tumours that had spread into her lungs, chest wall, lymph nodes and spine. There is a strict eligibility criteria in place to be given the ability to choose to have an assisted death as not everyone with a terminal illness will be eligible.
The person will choose the date and time of their death with support from the attending medical practitioner.Tracy was terminally ill but there was treatment available to try and give her more time, with a possibility of it even adding eight years onto her life. After suffering through the painful side effects, she told her oncologist she did not want treatment anymore.
Even helping a terminally ill person take their own life, called assisted suicide, is an offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
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