“I love to live, but I want to die”: Chilean activist seeking to end her suffering | the Chronicle

54-year-old Chilean with cancer, lupus and blood disorders she insists on demanding a rule that allows her to end her days with dignity.

“I love to live, but I want to die”, points out Cecilia Heyder, a social activist who has focused her life on human rights causes. Now she is fighting for herself: she demands that the Chilean Congress approve a law that legalizes euthanasia.

“I have been fighting for a law on euthanasia for many years without knowing that it was going to affect me, without knowing that I was going to ask for it, because I believe in the individual and sovereign rights of each person”, Heyder’s Notes.

She cites her own ills as an example of why legislation is needed. “When you see that your life is not the same, when you see that your life is ending and you will not be able to go out to walk, do what you love the most in life, that is to say to chain yourself or to protest, it is better to give up and not continue to suffer ”.

Although he is still able to stand up and walk very slowly using a crutch, he uses several catheters needed to take his treatments to his torso each time he goes to the hospital. “I have cancer, I don’t know if it has already metastasized because since 2015 I have refused to go to an oncologist. I have systemic lupus erythematosus and two years ago I developed factor seven deficiency which causes me coagulopathy, bleeding, a lot of bleeding and a lot of pain ”, Explain.

Twice a week, he has to have plasma and opioid transfusions every six hours. “This is not life”, he said categorically.

the Congress is studying a bill establishing the legal framework allowing a terminally ill patient to decide how to end his life. The initiative was approved by the House of Representatives but awaits its sanction in the Senate.