A Last Message from Frank Friedmann

From Frank

 

You'll have heard that I'm not well.  Here's an update about how we are. And I'll start with me, which I know isn't really polite, but here goes.

 

It's cancer of the gall bladder, and it's spread to other organs making it inoperable.  And because chemo carries a high risk of blood clots (which I didn't know about before) alongside all the other side effects, that's ruled out because of the stent plumbing in my heart.  So, I'm not going to get better.  In spite of it all, I'm in good spirits - happy in fact.

 

This is of course most devastating for Eleanor - we came here to an area we didn't know at all for life's last big adventure, and we've grown to love with the diverse land-, river- and seascapes around and across Morecambe Bay and the Forest of Bowland.  The community here isn't perfect but mostly supportive and interesting, and we have both got stuck in with playing an active part in helping it work and improve.  Little did we suspect even a couple of months ago that it would be cut short so soon, I can only hope Eleanor can carry on with some of the U3A and other activities we enjoy together - and finds some more.  She's started an art project portraying some of our neighbours as birds and animals, and in a few weeks she's taking her Latin GCSE!

 

From our Passivehaus windows we look across rapids on the River Lune and see the sandpipers, grey and pied wagtails, goosanders, mallards, herons and occasionally a freak white breasted cormorant.  Often there are conoeists - a local club, or mountain rescue from farther away in Cumbria and Yorkshire having a practice - right outside our window!  A passing jogger took the picture a few days ago.

 

There's a traffic free cycleway into Lancaster, and then you can cross the river and go on to Morecambe prom, then west to Heysham or east to Hest Bank (where the so-called West Coast Main Line first hits the coast by Leighton Moss RSPB) and up to the canal where there's a pub for a break. Refreshed, the towpath takes you to the beautiful Lune Aqueduct and drop back down to the cycleway - 12 miles hardly even crossing a road.  Most people race up the M6 past this area on their way to the Lakes or Scotland.

 

So finally, I ask how you are.  Well I hope.  Please do pass on my greetings to all at LSS!.

 

Best wishes,

 

Frank 

 

P.S., below is the main body of an email I wrote to my MP on the day of the Assisted Dying debate, which you might like to share - maybe via Leicester Secularist. Obviously it relates to my present condition, but it's my long-standing view.

 

I generally support an individual's right to autonomy over their body, and in this particular case, the right to make one's own decision about how the often prolonged process of dying should end. Many people of course would not choose to exercise such a right, but the option should be there.

Of course, assisted dying happens - I don't know how often - anyway. Worn down by pleading, loving spouses sometimes smother or otherwise take the life of their dearest loved one, even in the knowledge that they risk facing a charge of murder and imprisonment for their act of compassion.

In other cases, as has happened in my family, relatives forever face the guilt of being too cowardly to relieve the suffering as requested, and this forced inertia poisons the last weeks or months of the relationship.

Both support (for the patient and relatives) and safeguards need to be strong, and that is where the debate and research should be, taking account not only of medical and ethical expertise, but first and foremost the views of people wanting the ability to have a dignified end to their lives in circumstances of their choosing.

The arguments about abuse are legitimate, and as I say, they must be addressed with strong safeguards.

The question of who should provide support, and how, is also essential, but should not detract from the human rights principle of autonomy.

Forced euthanasia, as practised in Nazi Germany, is as abhorrent to me as it is to anyone. And I am aware that abuses have from to time to time occurred in countries where the law has been relaxed. Neither of these detracts from the principle.