In the coming hours, 23-year-old Lily Thai will take medication to end her life. Photo / Facebook
In the coming hours, 23-year-old Lily Thai will take medication to end her life. Photo / Facebook
In just a few hours, Lily Thai’s life will peacefully come to a close.
It’s a moment that has been in talks for months and will enable the 23-year old to take her last breaths with dignity.
Adelaide-born Thai has fought a long and painful battle with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and, as a result of South Australia’s recently passed voluntary assisted dying laws, she will legally be given life-ending medication today, reports news.com.au.
Thai’s rare medical condition causes her body’s immune system to attack her nervous system, which leaves her in constant pain and means she is reliant on other people to look after her.
The young woman looked back on missing big milestones, such as finishing school, on account of her illness and still said she would miss “everything” about being alive.
“You never do the normal things like going to your high school graduation,” she shared with the Advertiser.
In January, South Australia made voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legal and assigned A$18 million ($19.7m over five years to ensure its safe delivery to people battling terminal illnesses.
Assisted dying was made available in New Zealand on November 7, 2021, however the health service has strict eligibility criteria and not all those who suffer from a terminal illness may have access to it.
Thai recently revealed that her body couldn’t handle the treatments she was undergoing anymore, having reached its limit.
“I realised that I can’t have any more anaesthesia, so I [couldn’t] have any more feeding tube changes [or] surgeries,” she told the Advertiser.
Today, doctors will give her medication via IV that will terminate her life within 10 seconds.
“I’ll no longer have any pain, I will no longer suffer with any of these issues, and I’ll finally be free of all the suffering that I have endured for so many years,” she shared.
Since the age of 17, the debilitating condition has affected her ability to live a normal life. Thai has spent the past six years receiving palliative care at the Flinders Medical Centre’s Laurel Hospice.
Thai and fellow terminal patient Annaliese Holland have become close friends over the past two years, bonding over their shared medical experiences and grieving the lives they “never got to have”.
Over the past two years Lily Thai, left, and fellow terminal patient Annaliese Holland developed a close friendship. Photo / Facebook
“For elderly or older people, [they] have memories to look back on to laugh about and cry about,” Holland shared.
“But for a young person in palliative hospice, you haven’t formed many of them.”
“What makes me sad is that … you just want to push on, but at the same time it’s really hard because you know you won’t have babies or any of that.”
Thai’s devastated mum couldn’t bear to be in the room with her only child when she signed the final consent form for the procedure last week.
“I feel pretty numb. I know how hard it will be for my family and friends,” Thai revealed to The Advertiser.
“But it’s gotten to the place that I’ve lost control of everything else in my life and I’ve been reliant on my dad as a caregiver to do everything for me, even the most intimate things.”
While calling the experience “hard and confronting”, Thai’s mum felt comforted by the fact that her daughter had the choice to “die peacefully”.
Thai, who confessed that she would miss “everything” about being alive, has been able to help with the planning of her funeral and picked a “lovely place” for her burial.
The terminally ill patient has also written letters to her nearest and dearest recounting some of the beautiful memories they have shared together.
One of Thai’s final wishes was a McDonald’s meal and a trip to the beach, which her close friend and paramedic Danika Pederozolli made happen.
Lily Thai's friend Danika Pederozolli helped Thai enjoy Macca’s fries in the back of an ambulance while staring out to the ocean. Photo / Facebook
Pederzolli met her terminally ill friend through a St John’s Ambulance cadet programme. She looked back on their first meeting, saying she had a “vibrant attitude” and “positive and warm presence”.
“She’s such a positive and warm presence in your life and [such a] smart person,” she told the Advertiser.
“She was just so happy, and she’s still like that now, she’s no different.”
Thai invited friends and family to donate to The Hospital Research Foundation’s palliative research on her memorial card, which will be given to those in attendance at her funeral.
