
Pretoria - “I wish to end my life with dignity, surrounded by my loved ones, while I am able to breathe on my own, speak to my loved ones and see and hear them…”
This is the plea of Robin Stransham-Ford, a well known Cape Town advocate who is dying of prostate cancer, which has now spread to the rest of his body.
In his heart-rending application to the High Court in Pretoria to be assisted in his death by a doctor, he said he only had two to four weeks left – give or take a few days.
He was in March this year diagnosed with prostate cancer and his health has been deteriorating since then. He is currently being looked after at home, where he wants to die.
As the cancer has spread to his kidneys, lower spine and lymph nodes, he has no hope of living much longer. “I suffer from severe pain, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, weight loss and increased weakness and frailty… I am in constant extreme pain, unable to get out of bed, unable to eat or sleep without morphine.