‘ Every day is harder than the last’
Longtime Calgary advocate for assisted death ends battle with MS
Some days, the pain was manageable — perhaps a four out of 10. On other days, it was an 11.
That’s how Donna Delorme once described her suffering as she tried to cope with multiple sclerosis.
“She was in excruciating pain all the time,” said Sigrid Wili, the Calgary co- chair of Dying With Dignity Canada.
Last Wednesday, Delorme took her own life, ending her 18- year struggle with the disease that kept her bedridden and unable to perform basic tasks without assistance.
“She was a very brave woman,” said Wili.
Delorme was an outspoken advocate for physician- assisted death. Over the past year, she blogged consistently about her struggles with the disease as well as her plans to end her own life.
According to her blog, Delorme had hoped to wait until the legal ban on doctor- assisted death expired in February 2016, but that date was too far away.
“Every day is harder than the last,” Delorme wrote on Aug. 22.
“I procrastinate going to sleep because the next day will come and then I have to do everything all over again. The pain, the suffering, the struggles — I can’t even explain how bad it is.”
Last February, the Supreme Court of Canada granted adult Canadians the right to a doctorassisted death, if they were suffering a “grievous” and “irremediable” condition, ruling that the absolute ban violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Supreme Court said it would be up to physicians’ colleges, Parliament and the provincial legislatures to craft a comprehensive assisted- death regimen for people experiencing physical or psychological suffering, and a year- long ban was put in place to allow the government to draw up new legislation.
While critics have expressed concern that the ruling has the potential to harm society’s vulnerable, Wili said the legalization of assisted death gives suffering people more control over their own lives.
“We feel that it’s just one more choice that a person will have when they’re suffering,” Wili said. “We want good legislation in place that will adhere to the spirit of the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Five days before Delorme died, she expressed her frustration in the lengthy process.
“We are close to voting for our next prime minister, and nothing regarding PAD ( physician- assisted death) is being discussed,” she wrote in a blog post for Dying with Dignity.
“I understand it’s a difficult topic for some, and they want to do it right. BUT IT STILL HAS TO BE DONE.”
Because Delorme took her life before it was legal for her to receive assistance from a physician, she had to do it alone. It’s illegal to help someone commit suicide, and she wrote that she didn’t want her family to be at risk of legal consequences.
“I’m sad that she had to do this on her own and not have family around her and people who she loved,” Wili said. “That’s the way it should be.”