A 23-year-old woman named Lily Thai has opted to end her life tomorrow (June 21) – and it was a decision she made entirely on her own.
Last week, Lily – who has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) – signed off on the paperwork to go ahead with ending her life. She is using the recently passed voluntary assisted dying laws to do so.
South Australia legalized assisted dying in January, and the government has committed $18 million over the next five years to support safe access to the new euthanasia service.
"I realized that I can’t have any more anesthesia, so I (couldn’t) have any more feeding tube changes (or) surgeries," Lily told The Advertiser.
Having EDS has meant that Lily is in constant pain, with the illness affecting her joints, skin and walls of the blood vessels. Also because of the debilitating disorder, she relies on her father to do everything for her, "even the most intimate things".
Tomorrow, medics will administer IV medication that will end Lily's life within seconds.
Needless to say, the young woman's family is heartbroken but ultimately do not want to see her suffering her entire life.
Explaining her decision to terminate her life, she told the outlet: "I’ll no longer have any pain, I will no longer suffer with any of these issues, and I’ll finally be free of all the suffering that I have endured for so many years."
Lily had previously believed her poor health was the result of a spinal fluid leak, but even after she underwent treatment to sort the issue, her condition stayed the same and doctors were unsure as to how to improve the state of her health.
At the age of 21, Lily travelled to Sydney to meet a surgeon who "specialised in spinal issues (for) patients with EDS".
By that time, she was wore a halo brace and had to have a nasal feeding tube because she "couldn’t’ keep anything down". She also weighed just 88lbs.
In May 2021, she underwent spinal fusion surgery and, some days later, she was fitted with a gastro Jejenul feeding tube in order to vent out stomach acid and secretion.
During her rehabilitation, hospitals were required to follow strict Covid-19 guidance, so Lily felt totally isolated at the time.
"I couldn’t stand not seeing my dad, so I got discharged early," she said.
She was then diagnosed with auto-immune autonomic ganglionopathy – an uncommon condition, in which one's immune system attacks their nervous system.
"The neurologist said that I was in multi-organ failure, but it wasn’t until I had a severe decline after one of my surgeries, (and) when I saw my rehab doctor they found a large lesion of the left side of my brain," she said. "He suspected I had a type of motor neurone disease."
Lily has been planning her own funeral as she awaits the day of her assisted dying. She has also been busy saying goodbye to all her loved ones.
We wish Lily as well as her friends and family all the best at this time.
