How many of you know someone with a fatal disease?

[Nippy]

Originally posted by Yshania


*hug* don't feel selfish. I felt this way too, she was only 46, 13 years older than I am now and looking 30 years older than I in the last couple of weeks or so. Her suffering was thankfully brief, but her deterioration being so rapid...she knew little about it because of the drugs. I had to make the decision to turn off her life support, knowing she would never recover, yet she was leaving behind two young teenage boys (12 and 13) who we would have to care for, and a grandchild she would never meet. Cancer is not pretty, whether it is a long term suffering...this really takes it's toll, or a short suffering that leaves you equally helpless, and in a state of shock by the speed.

I have also lost all four grandparents to cancer, one I hadn't met, and my father-in-law. Again, all were very quick.

On a brighter note, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Following an operation, radiation therapy etc she is now clear She is 71, and has always lead an active life. She continues to do so, the only lingering hint is the continuing Tamoxifen (sp?) and the annual check ups

One of my best friends mother has breast cancer. I only speak to him rarely about it, but I think it's good for him to speak to someone about it, rather than let it lie on his chest. His mother though is still completely active and does many sports.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

@Nippy- I'm with you there. I'd definitely make sure I'd done most of the things that I wanted to before the end.

[Sailor Saturn]

Originally posted by Nippy
While I agree in the aspect of Euthanasia, I would like to do everything that I would like to, enjoy myself and then go...

I don't agree with Euthanasia. My Uncle that had a terminal lung disease is part of the reason why. He had been on the waiting list for a lung transplant, but was expected to die long before he could get a lung transplant. He never did get the transplant. While he only has part of a lung left, the disease is completely gone now. He's married again and is continuing living his normal style life, the only exception being to do several oxygen treatments a day.

[Nippy]

Originally posted by Sailor Saturn


I don't agree with Euthanasia. My Uncle that had a terminal lung disease is part of the reason why. He had been on the waiting list for a lung transplant, but was expected to die long before he could get a lung transplant. He never did get the transplant. While he only has part of a lung left, the disease is completely gone now. He's married again and is continuing living his normal style life, the only exception being to do several oxygen treatments a day.

Yes, but Lung Cancer isn't always terminal it can be cured. They haven't created a cure for Aids yet, so why stop someone from being relived of the pain? It's selfish and ignorant of human nature.

Some of the most vehement complaints come from the relegious quarter, however, relegion can only offer prayer, and for them to say that it is wrong for someone to decide what THEY want to do with THEIR OWN lives is wrong.

[Sailor Saturn]

Originally posted by Nippy
Yes, but Lung Cancer isn't always terminal it can be cured. They haven't created a cure for Aids yet, so why stop someone from being relived of the pain? It's selfish and ignorant of human nature.

Some of the most vehement complaints come from the relegious quarter, however, relegion can only offer prayer, and for them to say that it is wrong for someone to decide what THEY want to do with THEIR OWN lives is wrong.

My Uncle didn't have lung cancer. It was another disease that is terminal. I do not know what the disease is called, but it basically eats away at the lungs until you die. The only "cure" for it is to replace the diseased lungs with healthy lungs, something that could never happen for my uncle because of the huge waiting list. He had been given about 6 months to live and the waiting list meant waiting at least 2-3 years for the lung transplant.

And don't so readily discount prayer, Nippy. We were praying for my Uncle the whole time he was ill. Then one day, the disease was just gone. The only thing to indicate it was ever there is the damage already done to my Uncle's lungs, but the disease itself was gone. Not dormant, but gone. Don't even try telling me that wasn't a miracle.

BTW, Nip, you think a teen should be allowed to commit suicide?

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Originally posted by SS
BTW, Nip, you think a teen should be allowed to commit suicide?

If they are going to die a long, drawn-out, painful, dehumanising death with no hope of recovery, and they feel that death is a preferable option, then yes.
EDIT-What I don't beleive is that I or anyone else has the right to deny people the option of euthanasia. IMO it's up to people to decide for themselves. I appreciate that many religious people, and I think quite a few non-religious people as well, do not agree with the concept of voluntary euthanasia. That's fine, no-one's forcing them to die. If they disagree with the right to a more dignified death, then they can live out the rest of their remaining life with the disease. However they shouldn't take it upon themselves to make the decision for other people, to disallow other people the chance to make their own choice.

[Sailor Saturn]

Originally posted by Ode to a Grasshopper
If they are going to die a long, drawn-out, painful, dehumanising death with no hope of recovery, and they feel that death is a preferable option, then yes.
EDIT-What I don't beleive is that I or anyone else has the right to deny people the option of euthanasia. IMO it's up to people to decide for themselves. I appreciate that many religious people, and I think quite a few non-religious people as well, do not agree with the concept of voluntary euthanasia. That's fine, no-one's forcing them to die. If they disagree with the right to a more dignified death, then they can live out the rest of their remaining life with the disease. However they shouldn't take it upon themselves to make the decision for other people, to disallow other people the chance to make their own choice.

A couple years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a long, drawn-out, painful, dehumanizing death with no hope of recovery, though I had no reason to not expect to live to be an old lady. Because of how I felt, which was coming from extreme depression, I often wanted to go through with euthanasia, and several times I tried. Even now, I haven't fully recovered, but I am glad I didn't give into my hopelessness and go through with euthanasia. You never know when a miracle will happen and that terminal disease will vanish as if it were never there. What if you commit suicide, and the next day was the day you would've been cured? Patience is a virtue, and hope is something we must never give up on. There is nothing dignified about giving up when there is still hope, and there is always still hope, as is proved by my Uncle still being alive and my dad having gone 18 years without a reoccurance of the cancer he had.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I was hoping someone else would point this out...

I hardly think euthanasia and suicide equate to the same thing. Euthanasia is strictly for when you have a life-threatening disease with no hope of being cured. It is, in a sense, a mercy killing. Depression, though it is a terrible condition to have, doesn't necessarily count as life-threatening, a fact (thankfully) proved by your continued presence here among us. While your uncle appears to be an exception, I think I'm fairly safe in saying that prayer is at best an uncertain form of medicine. If I had an incurable, terminal disease, I know I'd sooner die at a time and under circumstances of my own choosing, rather than spend months as an invalid and in considerable discomfort. If a miracle cure would possibly discovered the next day, then that would be a risk I'd have to take, and not being cured would simply be a result of the choices I made. The point is it'd be my choice, and no-one should be allowed to deny me the right to make that decision.

BTW, you have my condolences with regards to your depression. While I've never suffered any more than an extremely mild case, and for only a brief period (about a month or so), it wasn't an experience I'd care to repeat. I have a number of friends who suffer from quite severe depression and it seems to be an absolutely horrible condition to have to live with.

[Yshania]

Re the euthanasia debate, I was going to post up a case then remembered I had discussed it a while ago, here http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/showt ... euthanasia