Terminally Ill Cancer Patient Brittany Maynard Says She May Not Commit Suicide This Week in New Video [Watch]
The young, cancer-stricken woman who had planned to end her life Nov. 1 said in a video released Wednesday that "the right time" to take that step may not yet have come, CNN reported.
Twenty-nine-year-old Brittany Maynard's fate and decision had attracted global attention and controversy. A YouTube video in which Maynard said she wanted to kill herself by taking medication acquired over 8.8 million views and sparked social media conversation.
Maynard suffers from glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of terminal brain cancer. She has reached stage IV of the disease, which prompted doctors in April to predict she only had six months to live.
Since announcing her decision to commit physician-assisted suicide following her husband's birthday at the end of October, Maynard has become a "death with dignity" advocate. The movement is in favor of terminally ill patients receiving medication to allow them to die on their own terms. The practice is legal in five states, including Oregon, where Maynard resides.
Media from around the world, meanwhile, have reported on what were assumed to be Maynard's final days. Pictures of a visit to the Grand Canyon made it as far as Argentina, where the country's largest newspaper, Clarin, praised the young woman in a page two editorial Thursday.
"Brittany's cancer has no cure," editor Ricardo Roa wrote. "She decided to die this Saturday after celebrating her husband's birthday today. It will be the last party, the last tearful dinner, one last hug, the last kiss, the last squeeze of hands."
Maynard's decision was at once "unbearably painful" and "tremendously profound," Roa judged, as it underlined "the extreme force of liberty, which gives in not even to death."
In the end, it seems like Maynard may hang on a little longer. In the latest six-minute video, she said she had not yet made up her mind, Time magazine reported. The "death with dignity" advocacy group Compassion & Choices helped Maynard release the clip.
"So if Nov. 2 comes along and I've passed, I hope my family is still proud of me and the choices I made," Maynard said.
Watch Maynard's latest video below:
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