Earlier this month, Brittany Maynard released a video that explained why she was choosing to take a lethal combination of prescription drugs on November 1—rather than let her brain cancer kill her. The video, which was part of a campaign from the organization Compassion & Choices, explained why Brittany supports the idea of death with dignity, in which someone who is terminally ill but still has their mental facilities intact requests a doctor-prescribed life-ending medication (currently, only five states legally allow death with dignity). The video about Brittany's decision to end her own life quickly went viral—but now, Brittany is saying that she may not choose to take her prescription come November.
"When people criticize me for not waiting longer or whatever they've decided is best for me, it hurts because really I risk it every day, every day that I wake up," Maynard says in a new video. "And I do it because I still feel good enough, 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. It's happening each week."
Brittany goes on to explain why she still supports death with dignity, even though she may choose to extend her own life: "The worst thing that can happen to me is I wait too long because I'm trying to seize each day, but that I somehow have my autonomy taken away from me by my disease because of the nature of my cancer," she says. In the video, she also describes some of the most terrifying parts of her disease. Watch it for yourself for Brittany's full message. No matter which side of the death with dignity debate you stand on, you'll no doubt find Brittany's courage in sharing her story incredibly moving.
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