{"id":257957,"date":"2017-12-25T09:05:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-25T14:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=257957"},"modified":"2021-03-23T14:31:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T18:31:26","slug":"i-dont-want-to-suffer-any-more-belgian-paralympian-marieke-vervoort-ready-to-be-euthanized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/i-dont-want-to-suffer-any-more-belgian-paralympian-marieke-vervoort-ready-to-be-euthanized\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I don\u2019t want to suffer any more\u2019\u2013 Belgian Paralympian Marieke Vervoort ready to be euthanized"},"content":{"rendered":"
RAEL\u2019S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Wonderful! Suffering is not acceptable. We are born for happiness and pleasure!<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Belgian Paralympic athlete who suffers from an incurable form of progressive tetraplegia has revealed she is ready to be euthanised to get over the pain which has become unbearable.<\/p>\n

Marieke Vervoort who won four Paralympic medals, including the coveted gold in London in 2012, signed euthanasia papers in 2008 so she can decide when to end her own life. She, however, decided to end her life after the 2016 Games in Rio which was her “last wish.”<\/p>\n

After claiming Paralympic silver in Brazil in 2016, the Belgian athlete pointed out she was not going to die by euthanasia immediately but when her \u201cbad days outnumber the good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knows this, but three days before my first race in Brazil I was in hospital, because I was being sick constantly and dehydrating. I was so angry, and yet I came second. I suppose when you are mad, you are a lot tougher than normal,\u201d she told the Telegraph.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody sees me joyful, winning medals, being strong, but they don\u2019t see the other side. That is why every Paralympian is, to me, a champion,\u201d Vervoort added.<\/p>\n

Vervoort’s health problems began in 2000 when she was diagnosed with the rare progressive tetraplegia condition, which first affected her achilles tendons and rapidly spread, paralyzing her limbs. By 2008, her condition seriously deteriorated and the young woman, who had previously led an active life practicing triathlon and deep-sea diving, found herself in a wheelchair after her legs stopped working altogether.<\/p>\n

Doctors say her degenerative spinal disease, also known as quadriplegia \u2013 which takes away the use of all four limbs and the torso \u2013 originated from a rare deformation between the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae. However, they fail to explain the reason for excruciating pain which tortures the athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to suffer any more,\u201d Vervoort said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too hard for me now. I get more and more depressed. I never had these feelings before. I cry a lot. Now even my eyesight is disappearing. An optician saw me and rated one eye two out of 10, and the other just one. He said there was nothing he could do, because the problem was coming from my brain. Then a neurologist stayed with me the whole night while I had one spasm after another. She said it wasn\u2019t an epileptic seizure but just the body screaming, \u2018I\u2019m in so much pain. I\u2019m done,\u201d she said despairingly.<\/p>\n

Strong painkillers which provided short term relief have become less effective, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t sleep at night. My psychologist knows it. I want her to be with me when I die. She works at the hospital but even she says, \u2018It is a lot that you are going through. I have never seen anything like this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old said she didn\u2019t want to give up and spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, but all her efforts to fight back the disease have been in vain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Taurus,\u201d Vervoort said. \u201cIf I want something, I go for it. I never give up easily. I didn\u2019t want to accept that I would end up in a wheelchair. But in 2000 I couldn\u2019t do it any longer, although I was still able to use my stomach and my back muscles. Even that has become less and less. Now I\u2019m paralyzed all the way to my breasts. My finger function is going down as well. I have such a strong heart, but the pain medication is doing nothing any more. They have given me so many injections that everything is broken and hard. Sometimes the liquid goes in and comes straight back out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vervoort said she feels like a 90-year-old person and has already completed all the necessary pre-arrangements for her death. She has written letters to loved ones, which should be opened and read when the moment comes. She has given orders to release white butterflies out of a red box to mark her passing. Vervoort, who considers herself an atheist, has rejected a church funeral.<\/p>\n

In Belgium, where euthanasia is legal, three different doctors must confirm that the patient is in a state of unbearable and incurable pain before giving him or her the lethal medication. Vervoort already has that confirmation signed.
\nShe wishes for her ashes to be scattered in the ocean near the Canary Island of Lanzarote, which she calls her “favorite place in the world.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rt.com\/sport\/414228-marieke-vervoort-euthanasia-paralympic-athlete\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAEL\u2019S COMMENT: Wonderful! Suffering is not acceptable. We are born for happiness and pleasure!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":323703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}