On 7 October 2014, an op-ed piece written by 29-year-old newlywed Brittany Maynard of Oregon was widely read and
shared. In it, Maynard explained that she planned to take her own life on
Maynard's essay was published on CNN and not only widely shared but widely questioned by those unsettled by the 29-year-old's calm, reasoned tone in describing the tragic circumstances that befell her family in 2014.
Brittany stated on 1 January 2014, she was diagnosed with brain cancer after suffering unexplained headaches for several months. Maynard and husband David Diaz put aside their goal of starting a family to attend to Brittany's sudden and severe illness, and she explained how she and her family arrived at their painful decision to move to Oregon and end Brittany's life:
In April, I learned that not only had my tumor come back, but it was more aggressive. Doctors gave me a prognosis of six months to live.
Because my tumor is so large, doctors prescribed full brain radiation. I read about the side effects: The hair on my scalp would have been singed off. My scalp would be left covered with first-degree burns. My quality of life, as I knew it, would be gone.
After months of research, my family and I reached a heartbreaking conclusion: There is no treatment that would save my life, and the recommended treatments would have destroyed the time I had left.