When her grandmother died by euthanasia, it impacted her in ways she couldn't imagine.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The latest short film from Dying to Meet You features Lovanie, a young woman who has been greatly impacted by her grandmother's death by euthanasia.

Lovanie lost her grandmother to euthanasia. Her story is similar to many of the stories that we receive. 

Watch and share Lovanie's story (Link).

Lovanie explains that her grandmothers death was really hard on her as she has also struggled with mental health in the past few years.

Lovanie fears that her grandmothers euthanasia death will encourage other family members to also die by euthanasia in the future.

Lovanie expresses that her grandmothers dignity would have been achieved by staying with her family and to realize how much her family loved and cared for her willingly, and not as a burden.

Lovanie asks, how do you explain to your kids?

Lovanie expresses that you can't remain strong all of the time. You need help for that. We need people around us. You need to learn to help others and be helped.

Lovanie explains that the euthanasia decision is significant because it ends everything. There is no, I made a bad mistake but I can keep living. Euthanasia robs us of hope and strength. Death does not need to be sudden or chemically induced.

The lesson for Lovanie is that there is always another road, there is always another way. Her grandmothers death is a puzzle for Lovanie who said: I don't think I will ever figure it out in this life.

Watch and share Lovanie's story (Link).

Join the "Dying to Meet You" webinar with Amanda Achtman (September 25).

Amanda Achtman

Register for the Zoom event with Amanda Achtman who has been studying, travelling and speaking about re-humanizing the culture and preventing euthanasia.

Amanda who is Dying to Meet You - will share her mission and her goals and relate them with stories and experiences to how we can change the culture by encouraging hope.

The Zoom event is Wednesday, Sept 25 at 2 pm (Eastern Time).

Register in advance for the event: (Registration Link)
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Amanda states:

Now we do not so much have a culture of death as we have death without culture.

That's why we need a better cultural conversation - one that explores death as an occasion for discovering who and what we truly are.

I am convinced that artistic beauty, humanizing storytelling, and edifying examples are critical to restoring our cultural health when it comes to our experiences of death and dying.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition encourages people to become active in their community, with friends and family and to share hope. EPC opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide, as we oppose killing people. We support a culture of care, such as Compassionate Community Care and Dying To Meet You initiatives.

Roger Foley: A Passion to Live

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Amanda Achtman, who is leading a project called Dying to Meet You, visited Roger Foley in London Ontario. Roger lives with Cerebral Ataxia and says that he has been pressured on several occasions to ask for euthanasia. (Link to the youtube video)

In the video, Foley gives Achtman context from his life concerning his disability. Foley states that as a child he was always uncoordinated and very tired. He was not diagnosed with his condition, so he thought that he could work through it.

Roger said that he is bedridden and has severe pain levels every day. He needs to take medications or he can't even function.

Amanda Achtman

Achtman asked him why he is living in a hospital and not a home. Roger responds:

Unfortunately we live in a country where persons with disabilities aren't allowed to choose who's around them.

You're worked at; not worked with.

Foley then gave the example of a care worker who helped him get into the bath tub. He washed himself but when he needed help getting out of the tub, he called but got no answer. So he crawled out of the tub over the slippery floor, without full control of his limbs. As he was crawling down the hallway he hears snoring. He finds the caregiver stretched out on one of his chairs in a deep sleep. When he reported it to the agency, the care-giver confessed to the act but they didn't care.

Achtman asked him if he has been offered euthanasia? Roger replied:

Yeah, multiple times.

A nurse asked him if he had thoughts of self-harm? Foley responded honestly that he has thought about ending his life because of what he is going through. Out of nowhere, the nurse told him that he could apply for an assisted... you know what I mean.

Achtman asked him what is the impact on him, as a patient, of having euthanasia suggested? Foley responded:

It's completely traumatized me. Now it's this overlying option, where, in my situation, when I say I'm suicidal, I'm met with, Well, you know, the hospital has a program to help you with that, if you want to end your life.

That didn't exist before MAiD was legalized, but now it's there.

Roger says that he is having flash backs from this experience and that this has devalued him and all that he is.

Achtman asks about the accusation that it is only religious people who are trying to prevent euthanasia. Foley responds:

That's the ultimate gas lighting statement. Like, I'm not religious. I respect people who are religious. Saying that its just religious persons who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide are completely wrong. And these people who usually say it have an ableist mindset and they look at persons with disabilities and see us as just better off dead and a waste of resources.

Foley has hope is that one day he will be able to break through the wall of the system and get access to the services he needs.

Foley wants to live at home with workers who want to work with him as a team.

Foley concludes the interview by saying:

I have a passion to live.
I don't want to give up on my life.

Previous articles about Roger Foley: 

• UN disability envoy demands protection for people with disabilities from euthanasia in Canada (Link).
• People with disabilities oppose expansion of MAiD in Canada (Link).
• Canada is getting comfortable with killing people with disabilities (Link).