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Las Vegas,NV (KTNV) — Seven years ago, in the middle of an otherwise ordinary night, Sylvia Wiegand got up to use the bathroom and collapsed.
“I just flopped together like a rubber doll,” she said.
Paramedics rushed her to the hospital and three days later, Sylvia was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis.
“Never heard of it. Well, do you know MS? Yeah. Well, it’s a higher form of MS, and it’s terminal,” she said of her conversation with her doctor.
With a one-day-at-a-time mindset and treatment that includes medicine and monthly IVs, Sylvia has maintained her quality of life in stage 2 of the disease. But she fears for how the quality of her life will deteriorate when she reaches stage 4.
“We can make a choice when we want to go. And not live in a hospice, be turned over two times a day, have bed sores and vegetate every day,” she said.
Sylvia believes that with the support and guidance of her doctors, she should be able to decide for herself when she dies – and who’s there in her final moments.
“I told my son, I’ll let you know when it’s time to come over and say goodbye. And he even says that is a good idea,” she said.
But not everyone thinks assisted dying is a good idea, particularly many in the religious community. Pastor Norman Lourenco of Twin Lakes Baptist Church says it the idea disregards the value of life.
“God gives life. God takes life,” said Lourenco. “And no matter what bill they pass, it still won’t make it right.”
Sylvia, too, is a person of faith and is at peace with her decision.
“I would like to choose to say now I’m going and I’d like to go to sleep peacefully with a smile on my face,” she said.
The last time an assisted dying bill was introduced in Nevada was in 2017. That year it passed the Senate but not in the House.
State Senator David Parks says he will re-introduce the bill as early as possible when it comes out of bill drafting, this legislative session.
If you want to make your voice heard on this issue, Senator Parks recommends calling your elected assemblyperson and state senator by calling the Nevada legislature toll-free at 1-800-978-2878.
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