Beloved Grandmother Diagnosed With Rare Brain Disease Decides To End Her ‘Wonderful’ Life Using South Australia’s New Euthanasia Laws
- Denise Wyatt used SA’s assisted suicide program
- In 2017, she was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease
- Grandmother died voluntarily at the age of 75 on March 12
The family of a beloved grandmother described as ‘the life of the party’ has revealed why she decided to end her life under South Australia’s new euthanasia laws.
Denise Wyatt was diagnosed in 2017 with Huntington’s disease, a rare progressive brain disorder that affects the patient’s physical and cognitive capacity.
Her adult daughter, Amanda Hancock, said her mother deteriorated rapidly after her diagnosis, eventually weighing just 100 lbs (40 kg) and unable to swallow when the state passed new voluntary assisted dying laws.
Mrs. Wyatt had always told her family that she wanted to die on her own terms without ever being robbed of her independence.
Denise Wyatt (bottom left) died surrounded by her family on March 12 using South Australia’s assisted suicide program
“She said to everyone who visited her, ‘I want to die,'” Ms Hancock said 7News.
Mrs Wyatt (pictured hugging her daughter Amanda Hancock) was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 2017
She lived life to the fullest. She had a fantastic life. She wanted to die with dignity.
“In the end she was very anxious, very upset and almost begging for this to happen.”
Mrs. Wyatt died surrounded by her family on March 12, 2023 at the age of 75.
She is one of only six people to have used the SA assisted dying program since it launched on Jan. 31.
The program has very strict requirements and is only open to people who have only six months to live due to a terminal illness or who have been diagnosed with a progressive illness.
People with Huntington’s disease are known to live for 25 years after their diagnosis, but their quality of life is steadily declining.
While the laws were being drafted, critics of the program expressed concern that rules around euthanasia could be relaxed in the future.
Ms Hancock (pictured with her partner) said the help they received from Ms Wyatt during the euthanasia program was ‘fantastic’
Euthanasia is not the only option. We need to make sure that palliative care is adequately funded so that it remains a real option for people,” said liberal MLC Dennis Hood.
Ms Hancock, however, has applauded the program for giving her mother a peaceful death and thanked the ‘wonderful’ people who had guided her family.
“(It was) very clear, very concise. From the very first conversation, from the beginning to the day my mom passed, everything was done great,” she said.