Sophie Blake is campaigning so her daughter is not left with painful memories (Image: Phil Harris)
The Express today calls on MPs to hear the final plea of terminally ill mum Sophie Blake, who says: “Please vote to allow us the choice to have a good death.” A crunch Commons vote this afternoon will decide whether a landmark bill aiming to legalise assisted dying will continue its historic journey towards becoming law. Sophie’s call is backed by Dame Esther Rantzen, 84, who is battling stage four lung cancer, and an overwhelming majority of Britons.
Former TV presenter Sophie, 52, lives with incurable breast cancer and is allergic to opioid painkillers. She said: “This is not about wanting to die, but to be able to live the rest of my life with the peace and comfort of having choice. I have come to terms with the fact that my life has been shortened, and I do not fear death, but I do fear how I’ll die.”
Sophie shared her story at a press conference alongside Kim Leadbeater (Image: PA)
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Sophie wants her 18-year-old daughter, Maya, to be left with memories of “happiness, and of wonderful times, not traumatised by seeing me in agony”.
Speaking on behalf of all those facing an uncertain end of life, she added: “We have to deal with so much after being diagnosed with these devastating, life-limiting diseases.
“The mental and physical impact, the future, dreams and times that have been stolen from us, the gruelling treatments, alongside all of the brutal, distressing side effects, and the heartache and sorrow we see it having on our families.
“All we are asking for is to be able to live our lives in the peace and comfort of knowing we can choose at the end.”
For more than three years, the Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade has given a voice to dying people and their loved ones who are desperate for choice at the end of their lives.
A YouGov poll yesterday also showed a majority of Britons backed the bill in its current form, with 73% supporting it and just 16% opposing.
Childline founder Dame Esther warned that this may be “our last chance for many years — maybe decades — to give terminally ill patients the hope they desperately need, that if life becomes unbearable they will be able to ask for assistance to shorten their death”.
The veteran broadcaster knows any change will come too late for her but has given a voice to thousands of others who find themselves facing a terminal diagnosis, now and for years to come.
Campaigners will gather outside Parliament again today (Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis)
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Stressing that even “the most skilful palliative care” cannot always relieve suffering at the end of life, she added: “Nobody wants to watch a loved one dying in agony.
“The new bill will replace the current cruel, criminal law with compassion, care and most important of all, choice. The new law cannot come in time for me, but will make a real difference for generations to come.
“Express readers have shown how deeply they care about this crucial issue. Every public survey shows that the majority agree.
“It is time for MPs to make this hope a reality, protect the most vulnerable with this new Bill with its built-in precautions, and give terminally ill patients the respect and choice they deserve.”
Dame Esther became an unintentional figurehead for the latest push to legalise assisted dying after revealing her decision to register with Dignitas 18 months ago.
Her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, has supported her mum’s fight and will join around 400 campaigners expected in Parliament Square today.
Dame Esther added: “This is a crucial debate for the truly voiceless. They are the terminally ill adults for whom life has become unbearable and who need assistance not to shorten their lives but to shorten an agonising death — and their loved ones who under the current law will be accused of committing a crime if they try to assist or even stay alongside to say goodbye.
“All this bill allows is choice for desperately ill adults who are dying anyway but want the confidence of knowing that they can ask for help to choose what we all hope for; a quick, pain-free death with good memories left behind as their legacy for those they love.
“Please allow us terminally ill the dignity of choice over our own deaths. A change in the law cannot come in time for me, but will transform the final days of generations in the future.
“Those who disagree with assisted dying under the new law will have the right to their own choice, please allow the rest of us to have the same right.”
MPs backed the principle behind the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at second reading in November, by 330 votes to 275 — a majority of 55.
They will today debate amendments to the bill — which applies only to terminally ill, mentally competent adults with less than six months to live — for a few hours before holding a third reading vote.
The Bill’s sponsor, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, yesterday said she was “confident” it would pass this next crucial stage.
She told a press conference in Westminster: “We had a good majority at second reading. There might be some small movement in the middle, some people might change their mind one way, others will change their mind the other way.
“But fundamentally, I don’t anticipate that majority would be heavily eroded. So I do feel confident we can get through tomorrow successfully.”
Ms Leadbeater was joined by Sophie and three other people with experiences of terminal illness or bad deaths.
Pamela Fisher, a Church of England lay preacher who also has breast cancer that has spread to her bones, said she lived in “terror at the prospect of how my final weeks may turn out to be”.
The 64-year-old added: “I have seen other family members at the end of their cancer journey, and I know what may lie ahead.
“Even the best palliative care has its limits. This is the dead weight of fear that I carry around with me.”
Lord Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer and former justice secretary who hopes to sponsor the bill if it passes to the House of Lords, also joined the meeting.
He hit back at opponents’ claims that the process has been rushed, saying: “I have been in Parliament for 28 years and I have never seen a bill more intensely scrutinised in the Commons than Kim’s Bill.
“Members of the committee and the Commons themselves have all had to turn their own attention to that issue, and it has made the Bill — and this is no exaggeration — the most safeguarded bill in the world in relation to assisted dying.”
Tory MP Andrew Mitchell said the Lords had previously supported similar bills. He added: “What the Commons does tomorrow will, I think, be definitive in terms of whether this bill gets on the statute book.”