Hamilton widow stages 24-hour End of Life Choice Act vigil

Adam from Chartwell

Hamilton woman, Heather Major is staging a 24-hour vigil at Hamilton’s Garden Place to raise awareness of the details of the End of Life Choice Act New Zealanders will vote on in the upcoming election.
 
Heather is alarmed at the lack of community knowledge of the binding referendum.  Unusually voters are the law-makers and the question “Should the EOLC Act 2019 come into force?” will see it come into force 12 months after final votes are counted if it gets 50+% support.
 
“I've decided to hold a 24-hour vigil in Garden Place because what I'm finding within our community is not enough people are informed for such a colossal decision. This will impact those able to make a free, personal choice but also our most vulnerable people.  We need to take the gravity of this seriously,” Heather said.
 
Heather has been involved in assisted dying research and conversations for about five years and recently her 18-year-old daughter Rachel has joined her education campaign.
 
“We have spoken at events across the region.  We have been invited as educators as we are familiar with the Act inside and out and have our own experience of my husband and Rachel’s father Glenn’s terminal cancer journey. He was given just six months to live when Rachel was a baby and went on to live for the best part of a decade, which gave Rachel the chance to get to know her Dad and make many happy memories.”
 
Heather will sit in Garden Place for 24 hours from lunchtime this Sunday to lunchtime Monday with a sign “#our whanau, our concern”.   She actively opposes the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force. 

“My biggest concern about this monumentally flawed Act is that nowhere in the process is there an independent witness, for the protection of both the patient and the doctor. Other countries with similar legislation require 2 independent witnesses when a person signs their request in front of the doctor.  This Act has no witnesses at all.  Many Kiwi voters don’t know that.”

Heather has actively supported several people with terminal and chronic illnesses and disabilities since her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1997.

“Many people are completely unaware that Māori health model – Te Whare Tapa Whā – is missing in action from this Act, and that there are about 200 lawyers, both for and against assisted dying, who strongly oppose the Act in its current form. (Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders).”

Heather’s motivation for the vigil is helping others to be informed of exactly what they are voting for before election day.  She will speak on the hour every hour about the Act for anyone who comes.

Her other, more personal reasons, for her tireless five-year campaign, are listed below.

“At times, it has been a lonely journey for Rachel and for me. Many people are complacent and under-educated about this matter of massive societal change with regard to how we face dying and potentially allowing for one person to legally end the life of another.  I’d ask every New Zealander to be well-informed, so they can make an educated call with their vote.”

Heather says she is staging the End of Life Choice Act vigil for: 
My homeless friend with a terminal illness whom I failed to help.
My late husband Glenn whom I loved in sickness and in health, till death did us part.  He outlived his first 6-month prognosis by eight years.
My brave daughter Rachel who speaks about the vulnerability of sick parents who feel like a burden and about the disregard for whānau in the Act