Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Mental Health, Netherlands, Life
Joe Yates
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A young woman was a mere seconds away from a death that she had tirelessly campaigned for for four years, before opting out.
Romy, whose last name has been withheld to protect her identity, had pleaded with officials to allow her to die by way of euthanasia since turning 18 years old.
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The 22-year-old suffered from anorexia and eating disorders, as well as being clinically depressed, all stemming from an abusive childhood, and so lobbied Dutch authorities to allow her to.
The Netherlands' government website explains that euthanasia and assisted suicide is legal, only if the criteria laid down in the Dutch Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act are fully observed.
This requires the patient to see euthanasia as 'the only escape from the situation'.
Fast-forward four years, she lay in a hospital bed in the South Holland city of Leiden - located in between Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Prior to getting to the hospital, she'd seen the coffin and hearse in which she'd be taken to the mortuary after the procedure.
Her distraught brother had journeyed with Romy and their mom, but he couldn't bring himself to be in the room when she passed away.
Instead, he waited in the hospital's garden while Romy lay alongside her sobbing mother.
Romy told the doctors to go ahead, but began sweating and her heart was almost beating out of her chest.
As her doctor prepped her for death, she asked her one final question and it was at this point she had a sudden change of heart.
The question, that had to be asked by law, was: "Are you sure?"
All of a sudden it became clear to Romy that no, she wasn't sure about this and began to weep uncontrollably alongside her mom.
They called it off but only temporarily, and planned to reschedule at a later date - but that date never came.
Speaking to Dutch publication NRC, she explained how she wants 'nothing more than to live'.
She said: “I don’t regret the journey. Because I’ve been so close to death, I see life as something valuable. It won’t always go well, but I now know there is light at the end of the tunnel."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
If you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.