Report: Terminally Ill 29-Year Old Cancer Patient Ends Her Life

She became the public face of the right-to-die movement. Brittany Maynard ended her life on Saturday at her home in Portland, Oregon according to a published report by People magazine.

At the age of 29, Brittany had been married just one year when she discovered she had aggressive brain cancer.

People reports that she wrote on her Facebook page:

Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more.  The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type … Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!

Farewell messages from friends and family started appearing on social media on Saturday.

For while, she considered passing away in hospice.

In an op-ed article for CNN on Oct 14th Brittany wrote:

I quickly decided that death with dignity was the best option for me and my family,” she wrote. “We had to uproot from California to Oregon, because Oregon is one of only five states where death with dignity is authorized.

She  recently recorded a number of  YouTube videos in which she, accompanied by her family, explained her decision and her support for an expansion of assisted suicide laws. She started an organization, Compassion and Choices, to publicize the idea.

“My dream is that every terminally ill American has access to the choice to die on their own terms with dignity,” she wrote on her website.

As reported here on Friday, Maynard was finally able to visit the Grand Canyon last week, checking off the last item on her bucket list.

The “death with dignity” organization advocates for  terminally ill patients be allowed to receive medication that will let them die on their own terms.

The “death with dignity” movement is opposed by many religious and right-to-life groups, which consider it assisted suicide. Maynard’s decision has drawn criticism from some religious leaders.

Brittany Maynard's obituary can be seen here