I’m saddened to learn that cystic fibrosis took the life of Valentina Mauriera, the 14-year-old Chilean girl who begged to die after spending her life fighting the same terminal genetic disease that killed her 6-year-old brother. After posting her plight on YouTube, the world responded with love and she changed her mind. Only weeks later, she lost her battle with CF.
I struck up a correspondence with Valentina’s dad after hearing about her. We were trying to arrange a phone call,an interview for a freelance piece about her family. It would take some coordination of schedules, time zones and the help of a translator, but I made progress. When her father stopped writing back after initially being quick-to-respond, I thought the family members had either changed minds about our talk or that Valentina had gotten sicker.
I’m well aware the illness she shares with my son is lethal, but I didn’t know she was this close to death.
I will still write my essay. I only wish I could have met Valentina.
El Espectador reports; here is an English translation:
Valentina Maureira, the 14 year old who suffered from cystic fibrosis and a video called the president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, permission to die and end their suffering through euthanasia.
The death of the young was confirmed by his father, Fredy Maureira “. At 13:25 pm my daughter left did many things for other children, children who are dying and let me flag high,” his father said , Radio Cooperativa.
The case of the girl, who stood at the Clinical Hospital of the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile reopened the debate on euthanasia, after disclose a video in which he asked to be subjected to this procedure.
“I request urgent talk with the president, because I’m tired of living with this disease,” held in the video, shared thousands of times on social networks. “She can authorize me an injection to fall asleep forever,” he added.
In the request, the Chilean government was willing to support the girl and her family, telling them it could not authorize the medical euthanasia because there exists in the current legislation.
Indeed, Bachelet responded to the request made a private visit to the girl at the end of February at the hospital.
Valentina message caused a great impact in the country, which does not have a regulation on medical euthanasia, and reopened the debate on the possibility that the terminally ill can decide about their situation.
The death occurred the same week that the Senate Health Commission sent to report to the Chamber rejected the bill that seeks to grant the request for assisted death for the terminally ill.
Hereditary nature of the disease had already killed one of his brothers at six .
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