Fartown campaigner’s support for MPs’ debate on assisted suicide

Mar 14 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LisaCook

A CAMPAIGNER who is facing a genetic timebomb has welcomed news that MPs are backing a debate about assisted suicide.

Lisa Cook, 41, has battled for the right of terminally ill people to end their own lives since she discovered she is likely to die from Huntington’s disease.

Now 100 MPs have signed an early day motion – a way for MPs to draw attention to a specific issue – calling for a debate on assisted suicide.

Mrs Cook said: “For there to be a fair and open debate, with balanced arguments not coloured by personal religious views and in a place where the law can be changed, would be fantastic.

“I’m not surprised at the level of support because everyone we have spoken to has expressed backing, from the whole spectrum of the political rainbow.

“It’s a step in the right direction and might hopefully be the first stage towards a change in the law.

“It’s long overdue and people will continue to go to whatever lengths they have to to achieve what they need to do, but they shouldn’t have to.

“There will always be people who want a dignified death.”

Mother-of-one Mrs Cook, of Woodhouse Hill, Fartown, is currently perfectly healthy but has been diagnosed as having the late-onset type of Huntington’s.