Brittany Maynard’s husband vows to help pass ‘right-to-die’ laws in every state

Dan Diaz, widower of Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old woman with terminal glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer who took her own life on November 1, 2014, recently shared details of her death with Oprah Winfrey. Diaz is working on fulfilling a promise he made to his wife – to help pass so called “right-to-die” legislation in every state. In the interview, Diaz tells Oprah about Maynard’s last day of life.

Maynard had a mild seizure that morning. Her parents, family and friends were there. They took a walk with the dogs and shared their favorite memories with Brittany. Diaz told Oprah:

Maynard and Diaz had moved to Oregon from California because of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act that lets terminally ill patients end their own lives. In Oregon said Diaz, “[Brittany] knew she could control the amount of suffering.”

Certain words stand out in Diaz’s interview: fear, control, suffering, avoid. None of these words are pretty.

We all want to control our lives, but we can’t. None of us want to suffer, but we do. Suffering cannot be avoided. Death cannot be avoided. But we can choose to not let our worst suffering get the best of us. We can choose not to let fear control our decisions. We can choose to let go and allow others to care for us. There is dignity in that. There is grace in that.

The day before Maynard died, a woman named Maggie Karner, who is fighting the same cancer as Maynard, made a video message for her. No one could understand more than someone going through the same experience, so Karner told Maynard:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZR-qB3HaQY&w=420&h=260]

Karner goes on to share the story of her father becoming paralyzed and dying. She talks about the fact that all her father could do after his accident was talk. And that’s what they did. She says that she had never before had that kind of intimacy with her father. Karner says that she and her siblings learned so much about sacrifice and love, and that they grew as a family. She called it a gift from her father to have that time with him. She asked Maynard to give her own family that gift of caring for her in her cancer journey.

Maynard didn’t listen to Karner, but maybe Diaz will. If he truly doesn’t want others to have go through what Maynard did, then a perfect course of action would be helping to find better treatments and a cure for cancer.