DIGNITAS MAN: THIS IS MY LAST BIG ADVENTURE
Parkinson’s disease sufferer films poignant video diary of his final weeks
A PARKINSON’S sufferer has left a moving video diary of his journey to Dignitas.
Andrew Tyler, 70, ended his life abroad to escape crippling pain.
He said: “The trip is necessary. It’s my last big adventure.”
BRAVE Parkinson’s sufferer Andrew Tyler revealed his battle with the disease in his video diary, filmed in the weeks before he went to Dignitas.
The 70-year-old insisted those in debilitating pain or with a terminal illness deserved the right to a dignified death.
In recordings leading up to his death, he said: “People should be allowed and helped to go in a more civilised manner.”
Discussing his decision to die, Andrew added of Parkinson’s: “I don’t count it a noble or appropriate death... dribbling, can’t think, can’t speak, can’t move, in pain, lots of drugs. I don’t want that, I don’t know anyone who does want that.”
Despite extreme pain, Andrew kept his sense of humour to the last. When staff at the centre handed him the lethal dose of barbiturate, he said: “This stuff tastes awful, what are you trying to do, kill me?” But his final words before falling unconscious were to wife Sara Starkey, telling her: “You have been my world.”
Speaking after his death, Sara, 72, backed Andrew’s call for assisted dying to be legalised in the UK. She added: “The system in our country is totally barbaric.”
Andrew had a glittering career as a music writer, interviewing the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon and Stevie Wonder.
He went on to be director of campaign group Animal Aid, but was struck down by the cruel disease.
In recent years, crippling back pain left him struggling to sleep and walk. In his final video, three days before he left for Switzerland, he said: “It’s my last big adventure... if it comes off I’ll be absolutely delighted.”
Blasting UK law, Sara gave the example of motor neurone disease, also a progressive illness. She said: “The only way you can end your life legally is to starve and dehydrate yourself to death. I can’t think of anything more appalling.
“There is no humanity in that at all. The families of these people have to watch them die over days, weeks. Andrew was in the most appalling pain. I’m happy he isn’t suffering any more.”
And in a message to the Prime Minister, the mum of one said: “Change the law. MPs need to be brave to tackle this issue. Our historic views on homosexuality, abortion and suicide look ridiculous through today’s eyes. I believe the current ban on assisted dying will be viewed in the same way in the future. You should be allowed to die in your own country, ideally in your own home, with those you love around you.
“It’s shameful that we had to go abroad and do it in secret.” Andrew was a journalist in the 1980s and 90s, focusing on social issues and defending “those at the bottom of the pile”, before going on to work as an animal rights campaigner.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s around 10 years ago. There is no cure for the neurological condition, which causes irreversible damage to brain cells.
Around four years ago, the back pain he had suffered for many years worsened significantly. Scans showed the vertebrae in his lower back were disintegrating and could not be corrected with surgery.
Sara, who met Andrew in 1978, said: “The decline just carried on from there, leaving him weaker and weaker. His sleep
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was appalling, often just a few hours a night because of the pain. He struggled to walk towards the end. It’s amazing how long he held out.
“He was in such extreme pain that it affected his ability to think. He was extraordinarily brave and never complained. He never, ever said, ‘Why me?’”
Andrew first broached the subject of Dignitas with Sara as they ate supper at their home in Tonbridge, Kent. She said: “He was shaking and nervous about telling me, like he was embarrassed and wondering what my reaction would be.
“He said, ‘I have considered different ways of committing suicide but they can all go horribly wrong, so I’m thinking of Dignitas’.” Sara, who has a son, Davey, told Andrew she supported his decision and they decided to visit Switzerland when the pain became unbearable.
In September, ill health forced his retirement from Animal Aid after 22 years. Six weeks before going to Dignitas, Andrew began narrating his extraordinary diary. He recorded 19 videos, most during sleepless nights, revealing he was losing the ability to walk and even write.
He said: “I’m in considerable pain. That’s why this trip to Switzerland is real and necessary. What I don’t want to do is wait till I’m knackered.”
He later added: “I’ve no future that amounts to anything pleasurable, or useful.”
Andrew also questioned telling his two brothers about his plans, and thanked friends for their support.
In April, Andrew and Sara travelled to Zurich. They spent two days at a hotel before arriving at Dignitas on April 28. At 11am Andrew took a dose of barbiturate, losing consciousness within 15 minutes. He was pronounced dead at 3.10pm. Fighting back tears, Sara said of his death: “It was very peaceful. I held his hand and that was it. I was happy he wasn’t suffering any more and I knew it was what he wanted.”
The retired playschool worker, supported by a pal, then travelled home.
She said: “In Andrew’s case, I’m delighted he’s gone. It sounds awful as I’m heartbroken and wish he’d gone on living until he was 80. But when you see someone you love suffering every day, it was the kindest option.
“He was determined to go out on his feet, and he did.” In 2015 MPs voted against letting doctors help terminally ill people end their lives. The debate went to the Commons after the Supreme Court judged it had no power to rule on stroke victim Tony Nicklinson’s right to die.
Left paralysed in 2005, he was unable to commit suicide without assistance. He refused to eat after the High Court dismissed his case. He died of pneumonia in August 2012, six days after the ruling.
Sara believes the British system should mirror that of Switzerland’s. She said: “People who are terminally ill or suffering from incurable pain should be allowed to have help from volunteers. I am not asking for people to be killed en masse.
“The Swiss system is robust and only accepts genuine cases. It would’ve broken me to see Andrew die slowly. It’s viewed as the ‘kindest thing’ to euthanise pets. Why can’t we do the same for people?”
During his last seven months Andrew wrote his memoir My Life As an Animal. It is due to be published later this year.