Sisters raise money to pay for mum to die at Dignitas
TWO daughters have clubbed together to raise the money for their terminally ill mother to go to a Swiss clinic to end her life.
Tara O’Reilly and Rose Baker have launched a community fundraising effort for £8,000 to send her to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich.
Their mother, Jackie Baker, 59, has endured a rapid decline since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in February and is now wheelchair bound.
Earlier this year the grandmother told her daughters she wanted to ‘die with dignity’. But living alone with her cat in a Swansea council flat, she could not afford the cost of travelling to Switzerland for euthanasia.
Wanting to fulfil their mother’s wish, the pair started their fundraising campaign, which critics say may be against the law because it is illegal to encourage or assist suicide in Britain.
Miss O’Reilly, 40, a hairdresser, said her mother wanted to end her life at the clinic after seeing her own mother die painfully from the same disease aged 62.
She said: ‘It was her choice. She knew it was the only way she wanted to die – with dignity. And she knew she couldn’t do it in this country. She said, “I want to go to Switzerland. I know you don’t want me to talk about it but this is what I want”.’ Miss O’Reilly said that at first she refused to discuss euthanasia as an option, but when she saw her mother suffer every day she began to see things her way.
And she said assisted suicide should be legal in Britain, adding: ‘She is suffering like an animal and it is disgusting. She cannot do anything any more. She is caged. It is only going to get worse for her. There is no hope, there is no light.’
Mrs Baker, an amateur photographer, painter and musician, has no savings of her own so her daughters took it upon themselves to fundraise for the trip.
Miss O’Reilly has organised a ladies’ night tomorrow at a popular nightclub in Llanelli. Her mother is too ill to attend but will speak to fundraisers in a video message.
Mrs Baker was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in February but has deteriorated rapidly. The former photographer – who has been single for more than a decade and has no brothers or sisters – is unable to use her arms to lift a camera and her speech is fading.
Her youngest daughter Rose, 29, said: ‘When we saw how much worse she was getting we knew why she wanted to do what she wanted to do. She is not the same. She is pretty much lifeless now.’
She added: ‘It is heartbreaking watching our mum, who is such a creative, free spirit, now be confined to a wheelchair unable to use her arms, struggling with speech and requiring help with all per- sonal care.’ But Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, said the fundraisers could be breaking the law and police should investigate.
He said: ‘It is against the law to encourage or assist a suicide and raising money in order to pay for someone to go on a one-way trip to end their life by any common definition would be encouraging or assisting suicide.’
Dyfed-Powys Police was unavailable for comment last night.