Class Comments

Today, we watched 'The Suicide Tourist' in class. It was about Craig Ewert, an american living in England who was stricken with ALS, Lou Gherig's Disease and his journey towards the end of his life.  Craig chose to die in Switzerland with the assistance of Dignitas.  He chose assisted suicide to end his life rather than the horrible neurodegenerative disease.   The story was very moving and there was hardly a dry eye in the classroom. The film shows the last four days of Craig's life and even in those four days, you could see him wither away.  The strength of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is incredible; although it takes away one's ability to use their muscles, it leaves their ability to think and reason alone.  This movie had even more emotional significance for me since my Uncle Doug died from the disease. It made me think of Uncle Doug and the last time that I saw him, when I didn't want to say goodbye, but he came out to say goodbye. It was the last time we said goodbye. Whether a patient of a disease chooses to end their life on their terms or on the disease's terms, this disease is a horribly sad disease.

In memory of Douglas James Melanson