Often people who talk to me about euthanasia and the Netherlands give the impression that we 'simply put granny away, when we want to inherit her money' - or something along those lines.

Late last year my cousin through marriage had enough of suffering after being wheel chair-bound for the past ten years because her MS had advanced to a phase where she was not longer mobile. During the last year or so, she could not even use her hands anymore, so any food she would like to eat, had to be fed to her. She was also in constant pain.

In September of 99, my father was told he had maximum two weeks left to live and that death would only come after this insidious growth had burst.

 Hi my name is Michelle and 5 years ago I watched my mother die a painful death. My mother was diagnosed with Extensive SCLC a week before mother’s day 1999. She was told there was no cure for her cancer and any treatment that she had would be palliative only. She was give 2 to 2.5 years to live. She went through extensive Chemo and Radiotherapy and after the treatment was completed she was free of the tumours and was able to breathe again. She was all excited and in the hope that the Oncologist diagnosis was wrong she would tell us all she was fighting with all her might. But almost 12 months to the day from her first diagnosis she became ill again. We went for a CT scan only to find out that the tumours had come back and this time they had spread more.