A Canadian woman’s grueling battle with prolonged COVID has robbed her of her savings, the ability to get out of bed and the simple joys of life – forcing her to seek assisted suicide, according to reports.
Tracey Thompson, 55, of Toronto, applied for the country’s legal euthanasia program after it became clear that her life with the incurable disease was not going to improve.
“My quality of life with this disease is almost non-existent, it’s not a good life,” he told the DailyMail.
“I am not doing anything. It’s very boring. It’s very isolating.”
Thompson has spent about 22 hours every day in pain stuck in bed since contracting the novel coronavirus when it first hit the world in 2020.
Aside from suffering from various symptoms that left him unable to cook for himself or read, Thompson has been living off pennies since losing his job shortly after contracting COVID.
With the terrifying prospect that she will soon run out of money and the ability to support herself, Thompson applied in December 2022 for Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), a program that allows people to end their lives if they have an incurable illness. . .
MAID first became legal in 2016 for terminally ill patients but expanded just a year after Thompson fell ill to include individuals with “intolerable” and “irreversible” illness, disease or disability despite not nearing the end of their natural life .
Canadian woman Tracey Thompson has applied for legal euthanasia due to long-term COVID. Tracey Thompson/Instagram
Thompson gradually became sicker after contracting COVID, experiencing a decline in his cognitive abilities, breathing problems and an inability to exercise or exert much energy.
Once a professional chef, Thompson now mostly only takes various medications and meal replacement shakes because the long run of COVID has left him “allergic to everything.”
Mustering enough energy to go to the bathroom is “the biggest part of my day,” she told the outlet.
Even reading, watching television or listening to music while stuck in bed was almost impossible because his brain fog had gotten so bad that he “couldn’t process information”.
Thompson said his quality of life since his long bout with COVID has been “almost non-existent.” Tracey Thompson/Instagram
Thompson spends every day alone – he had to give up his dog after it became clear that he barely had the strength to take care of himself.
“Then I get up and I do it all over again,” he said.
On a good day, Thompson might manage to sit in his chair and scroll on his computer, and twice a month he walks around the block.
He had spent his savings to pay for housing, food and medical treatment, the latter of which proved to be very expensive.
Since his long diagnosis of COVID, Thompson has also been diagnosed with a variety of other illnesses, including myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS).
Thompson told CTV News Toronto that her decision to end her life was a “financial consideration” due to her stressful situation, not to fulfill her wish to die.
“I am very happy to be alive. I still enjoy life. The chirping of the birds, the little things that make up a day still please me, they are still fun. I still enjoy my friends,” he told the outlet in July 2022.
“There is much to be enjoyed in life, however small it may be.”
Thompson could not share the status of her application with MAID, claiming she is legally prohibited from disclosing details.
More than 13,200 people died through MAID in 2022, accounting for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada, the data show.
Thompson has been spending about 22 hours in bed every day because of the constant pain. GoFundMe
The program has been controversial since its launch, and has become increasingly contentious as it has expanded to include more groups.
Canada has recently come under fire for considering adding another subsection of the population for eligibility: terminally ill minors.
The change would allow those under the age of 18 to be turned off, a procedure blocked by current policy.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
