Dignity in Life, and in Death

When Sidney and Stacey Gibson renewed their wedding vows for their twenty-fifth anniversary, they knew their remaining time together would be cut short. Three years earlier, when they were 60 and 55 years old, respectively, Sid had been stricken with spina cerebella ataxia, a rare degenerative brain disease.

As his condition grew worse, Sid explored moving to a state that had legalized medical aid in dying or even going to another country, like Switzerland, but he didn’t want to move away from his friends and family.

Before he died in 2014, the 68-year-old Sid asked Stacey to make another vow: this one to help pass medical aid in dying legislation in New York. She said, “He had been ill for eight long years. He made me promise that I would fight for this law in New York State so that others didn’t suffer the way he did.”

Click HERE to read the full story in the Examiner+.