Teddington wife campaigns for assisted dying after husband's 'degrading' death

Angela Kilenyi, 69, joined the Dignity in Dying group as a volunteer around ten years ago when her husband Tom had first been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Tom, who died when he was 88, wanted to be in control of the end of his life and had booked to pass at Dignitas in Switzerland - with a a date set for October 9, 2019.

However, he fell ill beforehand and was rushed into hospital in mid September that year - dying in palliative care on October 1.

Angela

He had suffered from extreme indigestion where he was unable to swallow or drink - suffering a  “painful, truly miserable and degrading death” according to Angela.

Angela, from Teddington, has since been overwhelmed with support from the local community via social media and estimates that she has been able to get about an additional 800 signatures from her latest campaign push.

She told the Richmond and Twickenham Times: “I feel such rage and frustration that we have such a barbaric and inhuman system.

"We have control over the start of life with things such as abortions if we wanted one, but we have no control over what happens at the end.

“I’m sure in the future we will look back and think ‘my god what took them so long’.

"It’s the last of the human rights.”

Tom was a geologist with a passion for cooking and Angela describes him as the “most fascinating person she had ever met.”

Originally from Hungary, Tom escaped both the Second World War with false papers as a child and then the Soviet invasion of Hungary in the back of a van.

He had children from a previous marriage who have then gone on to have their own children who Angela "cherishes dearly".

Angela now represents south west London for DID after a friend of hers who worked as a palliative care nurse for 20 years persuaded her to set up the local group.

“She had clearly seen enough that she had decided that she believed you shouldn’t have to suffer at the end of your life," Angela said.

"She also pointed out that it is only the rich that can go to Switzerland because it’s not cheap and that’s why we need it here in the UK."

Dignity in Dying estimates that it costs between £6,500 to over £15,000 to have an assisted death in Zurich, where Dignitas is located.

The petition has currently hit over 40,000 signatures.

It states that if passed, the law should “allow assisted dying for adults who are terminally ill and have mental capacity. It should be permitted subject to strict upfront safeguards, assessed by two doctors independently, and self-administered by the dying person."

There is currently a private members bill that had a second reading at the House of Lords in October last year.

Angela explained: “The problem with private members bills is if it gets to the commons unless the government allows debate time it is unlikely it will go anywhere.

"That’s why I shared the petition to allow a debate in parliament and if we get to 100,000, I think the movement will be forced to get the Government to make time available.”