'I want to die with dignity, I fear a long death - but the law is cruel'

09 January 2024 , 08:00

657     0

Vivien Mainwaring wants to be able to die with dignity (Image: The Daily Mirror)

When she was fit and healthy, Vivien wouldn’t think twice about trekking around New Zealand with just a backpack on her shoulders and a smile on her face, but these days she’s lucky if she can make it to the end of her beloved garden.

The former chemistry teacher from Norwich was forced to give up work in her early fifties when she was diagnosed with diabetes and a rare form of Leukaemia. It changed her life completely as it also meant she could no longer enjoy many of her hobbies. Now, aged 79, she told the Mirror why she's "furious" with the UK government for not allowing people to die with dignity.

Vivien in 1965 when she was 20

Vivien Mainwaring wants the right to assisted dying to help relieve pressure on the NHS (The Daily Mirror)

It's incredibly hard to go from having a lust for life to being pretty much housebound. That's the reality for Vivien who has suffered from a cocktail of health issues such as diabetes and leukaemia since her late forties and now struggles to breathe or do anything - other than survive. "I hardly leave home,” she tells the Mirror. "A lot of the time I can’t really walk. I’ve given up gardening and driving as these days I'm having a good day if I can walk to the end of the garden."

Vivien believes in assisted dying: the right to help those with a terminal illness or condition take their own life if they wish to do so. But those against giving people the right to die, say it's because vulnerable people could be put under pressure to end their lives even if they don't want to.

Dame Esther Rantzen has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer (PA)

This week Dame Esther Rantzen, who has lung cancer, called for MPs to be given a free vote on Britain’s rules as a new poll revealed 71% of Mirror readers want the terminally ill to be allowed to die with dignity. Many want people in the UK to be given the same rights when it comes to assisted dying as they are in other countries like New Zealand, Switzerland and Spain.

Woman tells of losing 29 kilos and becoming a bodybuilder in her 60s

"When I was young I used to enjoy all sorts - riding ponies, camping and trekking around New Zealand," Vivien recalls. "But then in my late forties, I was diagnosed with health problems and later had to take early retirement.”

Vivien’s daughter Fiona, her mother Monica, ex husband Hugh, Vivien and her son Bryn and her mother Monica (Vivien’s daughter Fiona, her mother Monica, ex husband Hugh, Vivien and her son Bryn and her mother Monica)

What makes her health issues seem even more poignant is her memories of watching her parents suffer towards the end of their lives. She wishes there was something she could have done to help them and doesn't want to be a burden to herself or anyone else.

"It isn’t death that’s frightening to me,” she explains. "It's a long protracted death, as I saw with my parents. I’m not saying that I want to die but I’d like to be able to go with some dignity when the time is right.”

Vivien is glad Esther Rantzen has used her position as a high-profile public figure to speak out on the issue of assisted death and outdated UK laws because "nobody knows how much it will affect them until it happens to them or a family member. "We should be given the right to choose like people are in other countries."

Vivien trekked around New Zealand before her health troubles

My Death, My Decision helps people campaign for the right to an assisted death and says current laws are “barbaric”. Director Claire Macdonald argues: "There’s a reason why so many prominent public figures have recently come out in support of legalising assisted dying.

"The current status quo in the UK is barbaric and forces individuals into impossible situations - suffer at home or flee abroad for death on your terms. Adults who are intolerably suffering from a physical condition that cannot be cured and have come to a clear and settled wish to die should be allowed that right. Diana Rigg should have had a choice and Esther Rantzen should not be forced abroad to exercise her right.”

A charity director says the current law is 'barbaric' (The Daily Mirror)

Dianna Rigg, best known for her roles in Game Of Thrones, The Avengers and James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was a supporter of assisted death. She made an impassioned case to legalise assisted dying in a message recorded shortly before her death from cancer in 2020. Now, campaigners want Brits to be given the choice in the UK so they don't have to go abroad to a country where assisted death is legal.

While assisted death is illegal in the UK, it is legal in 19 countries including:

The Netherlands
Belgium
Luxemburg
Columbia
Canada
Australia
Switzerland
US
New Zealand
Spain
Austria
Germany
Italy

Jackie Annett