Terry Pratchett campaigning for the right to choose to die

Terry Pratchett, one of the most successful authors on the planet, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease in December 2007 has made an emotional plea for the right to choose to die when his quality of life deteriorates to the point that he can no longer carry on.

Terry Pratchett spoke out after the House of Lords made a controversial judgment in the case of a woman with multiple sclerosis who was trying to find out if her husband would face prosecution should he help her travel to a clinic in Zurich to die. He has rejected the idea that allowing assisted suicide would mean legalizing euthanasia.

Terry said, "I intend, before the endgame looms, to die sitting in a chair in my own garden with a glass of brandy in my hand and Thomas Tallis on the iPod,"
"Oh, and since this is England, I had better add, 'If wet, in the library.' Who could say that this is bad?"

He has praised the decision that should result in rules being set down to clear any who do not have selfish motives from prosecution.

He went on to say "We have been so successful in the past century at the art of living longer and staying alive that we have forgotten how to die,"

"Too often we learn the hard way. As soon as the baby boomers pass pensionable age, their lesson will be harsher still. At least, that is what I thought until last week.

"Now, however, I live in hope--hope that before the disease in my brain finally wipes it clean, I can jump before I am pushed and drag my evil Nemesis to its doom, like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty locked in combat as they go over the waterfall."

Terry Pratchett is currently leading the fight against the stigma that is attached to Alzheimer's and also supporting the research into any form of cure for the disease.