The joy of life

WHEN I was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) and told I would die within 18 months, I was naturally devastated and decided I wanted to take my own life.

I set about finding out how it could be done, but a few months later I began to think more clearly and realised my family and friends couldn’t give me a Christian burial, so there would be no place for them to visit.

My Christian faith is important to me, so I would be going against what I’d believed in for 58 years.

Amazingly, I’ve now been living with MND for eight years. I’ve needed an electric wheelchair for six of those and live in a nursing home, but I take the bus into town on my own to go shopping or to the cinema.

I’ve spent a lot of time fundraising and to date I have raised £500,000 and have increased awareness of this condition wherever I could.

I haven’t let this dreaded disease rule my life: I’ve travelled on my own back to Majorca (where I was living when diagnosed) and four times to the U.S.

I have to use a ventilator when I’m asleep to keep my lungs working and I need to be careful when eating.

A dear friend from my church takes me to Mass once a month, and my priest visits every week. I am getting weaker and have many chest infections, which many people die from. I need morphine to control my pain, taking about 60 tablets a day. But I have no regrets over my decision not to end my life.

I think people panic at the thought of what could be, but I’ve learned to live with every stage of my disease. I feel sorry for those who wish to have assisted suicide made legal — I feel it’s too open to potential abuse. ANNIE WALTERS, Cheltenham, Glos.