In July 2024, Linda Thomas met her MLA at a community meeting. They spoke about the need for advance requests for MAID and Linda was encouraged to send her thoughts and experiences in writing to her MLAs office. Here’s her letter to Sarah Elmiligi, MLA Banff-Kananaskis.

---

Years ago, our friend and neighbour had a series of strokes, the last one leaving her completely paralyzed and unable to communicate. My Mom and I visited her together so that we could talk to each other about things that would interest her. She would watch the speaker with her eyes and moan at the appropriate times to indicate that she was reacting to something we’d said. After four years of living like that, she refused to eat and basically starved herself to death because her family knew that she would not want to be kept alive with a feeding tube. 

My Mom had a stroke and ended up without the ability to move or communicate. The staff at the hospital determined that the language part of her brain was gone and they recommended removing all fluids to help her pass away more quickly. She may not have been able to understand what was going on around her but she could still suffer. She lasted twelve horrible days. 

My aunt has dementia and is now at the stage where she seldom recognizes her own kids. Her health is still good so there’s the potential for her to live many more years in a long-term care facility an hour away from her closest children. She wasn’t able to stay in her community because there was no room for her. Those of us who love her dearly have been suffering emotionally, watching her gradually leaving us. And the anxiety she experienced in the early stages of dementia was terrible to see. By the time she got to the point where she likely would have requested MAID, she was no longer mentally capable of making the request. 

Recently, my cousin had a catastrophic stroke and is now living in a long-term care facility. He has to be moved around in a wheelchair, fed, bathed and dressed. His family comes to visit him and the best he can do to communicate with them is mumble something unintelligible. This is not what he would want for himself or his family, but he is not able to request MAID.

It’s not right to force people to live out their lives in ways they would consider intolerable because they have suddenly become incapacitated and no longer can request MAID. It’s also not right for people to have to request MAID while they still have some pleasure in living. We need advance requests so we can put in writing what we want when we cannot speak for ourselves. 

Linda Thomas, Bighorn AB

---

If you are interested in setting up a meeting with your member of parliament to advocate for advance requests for MAID, you can download DWDC’s Advocacy Toolkit for suggestions and guidance.