Veteran Victorian firefighter Troy Thornton has died in a Swiss euthanasia clinic, leaving a powerful message for Australian politicians and voters.<\/p>\n
He wanted the nation to think deeply about the concept of dying well, and to challenge the notion that choosing death is somehow wrong.<\/p>\n
The 54-year-old died by lethal injection late on Friday, Australian time. His wife Christine was there to hold his hand, but he died without his two teenage children by his side after being met on arrival by euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke.<\/p>\n
Mr Thornton desperately wished he have could legally end his life at home in Australia, with all those he loved around him.<\/p>\n
His mother, Barbara Spencer, made her farewell on Facebook, writing that she was with him in spirit as he took his \u201cfinal journey\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my beautiful son Troy, I feel so proud of you and all you have achieved not only in your working life but a wonderful family man ,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart aches for you today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sending my love and hope you feel it in your heart my arms are wrapped around you they will be as you take your final journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cRest In Peace my Boy. I love you and will carry you in my heart forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite Victoria becoming the first state to legalise voluntary assisted dying, Mr Thornton didn\u2019t qualify. His disease \u2013 multiple system atrophy \u2013 is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. There are no treatments and there is no prospect of recovery, but death can take years.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where the Victorian laws fall down, Mr Thornton explained.<\/p>\n
He could not find two doctors willing to say with absolute certainty that he would die within 12 months, which in his case is a condition to access the legislation.<\/p>\n
That left him with Switzerland as a solution to end his suffering, albeit without his children, his extended family and his loyal circle of friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoctors have always told me that you don\u2019t die of it, you die with it. You can live for quite a few years, but \u2026 you end up being a vegetable,\u201d he told AAP from the Swiss city of Basel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a while it attacks different systems, breathing, swallowing. I\u2019d end up drowning in my own mucous, that\u2019s what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called his disease a \u201cbeast\u201d: one that takes everything away slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst you can\u2019t swim, then you can\u2019t run, walk, kick the footy with your children, you can\u2019t surf, drive; eventually it takes your career. Then you end up being a vegetable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty grim way to go out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described every day as \u201clike Groundhog Day\u201d \u2013 filled with incessant vertigo, double vision and nausea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just had enough, but unfortunately the laws, while they are a huge step in the right direction, they don\u2019t help me. They discount a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged Australian voters to tell their politicians what they want when it comes to end of life choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s our life, we should have control. We should be able to choose if we are of sound mind. That\u2019s what I\u2019d like to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
-with AAP<\/p>\n