WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS ANONS????
Dad of three and Google exec appeals for right to die in NSW
Last winter, Scott Riddle had just returned home with his family to Sydney after spending four years working at the prestigious Google HQ in Silicon Valley.
The 36 year-old was planning a dream move to the NSW country with children and wife Amelia, also 36, to run a small farm, in the meantime transferring to the web giant’s Sydney office.
But a routine trip to register children Ada, six, Calla, four and Ellis, 16 months at a GP led to a shock cancer diagnosis.
Now, Mr Riddle has become an unlikely face of the right to die campaign.
The South Africa-born tech expert has joined the call for a bill on voluntary assisted dying, similar to the one passed in Victoria last year, to also get the green light in NSW.
The cross party bill is expected to be presented to state parliament again in 2019 after being rejected by one vote in November by the Upper House, shortly after Victoria became the first state in Australia to pass a similar ruling.
Mr Riddle, 36, from Sydney’s upper north shore, told nine.com.au it’s all about removing some of the fear faced by terminally ill patients.
“It sounds very clichéd to say it but we show animals more dignity than we show people towards the end of their life,” he told nine.com.au.
“I’ve had friends and family who’ve suffered from things like motor neurone disease and seen what you could describe as pretty awful deaths. I’ve had family members who’ve died of cancer who’ve had pretty awful deaths.
“There’s a fear of what your own death might be like, not only for you but also for your family and friends.
“There’s a bunch of people out there today who are committing suicide in really awful ways, causing a lot of pain and suffering for them, because there isn’t this kind of option available.
“To me it was like you had a bunch of politicians who were actually doing more harm by saying no.
“I can’t see how someone could not want this choice.”
The Google partnerships boss was diagnosed with cancer last July, just months after returning to live in Sydney with his family from San Francisco.
He’d mentioned to his GP he’d had some unusual bleeding and change in his bowel habits.
In less than two weeks he was told not only did he have a tumour in his colon, but his cancer was stage four and it has spread to his lymph nodes and liver.
More at:
https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/05/08/12/17/dad-of-three-and-google-exec-appeals-for-right-to-die