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Rachel Rypma has a word for the result of the euthanasia referendum: “impressive.”
The 45-year-old Christchurch woman, who has Huntington’s disease, wants the right to end her life, but the legislation will not apply to her as it is unknown how long she will live.
The eligibility criteria mean that the bill only applies to those with a terminal illness who are likely to die within six months.
The genetic neurodegenerative disorder has wreaked havoc on Rypma’s body and brain since she moved into a nursing home nine years ago.
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Rachel Rypma, Huntington Victim: ‘Let Me Die’
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Rachel Rypma has Huntington’s disease and wants the right to end her life.
She can no longer walk or feed herself. Communication is getting more difficult as you struggle to form words and sentences.
Carers helped Rypma cast her vote in the referendum.
Rypma’s mother, Denise Forbes, said her daughter wrote a living will 13 years ago and made it clear that she didn’t want to be alive when the disease took hold of her.
“I am delighted that there is now an option for those with a terminal illness who have less than six months to live.
“Of course, I’m disappointed that people like Rachel can’t make that decision, but maybe over time the parameters will change.”
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Rachel Rypma and her mother Denise Forbes at the nursing home where she lives.
After a diagnosis, when Rypma was 23, she and her then-partner, Gabe, made the painful decision to terminate a pregnancy.
Gabe Rypma previously said that his ex-wife was an advocate for euthanasia from the time she was diagnosed.
“She said, ‘We’re going to have an amazing life, but when the dignity is gone and I can’t walk, then I want to make the decision to end my life.’
The couple spent time living in Sydney, Seattle, and Singapore and traveled the world until the disease took its toll on her and the couple’s relationship.
In 2007, Rypma returned to Christchurch on her own.
Forbes said he had hit a low point and was suffering from depression.
After moving into the nursing home in 2013, he tried to run away and wanted to kill himself twice.
Forbes said it could take 20 years for someone with Huntington’s to die, but there was huge variation in the way it affected each patient.
People with the disease often die as a result of choking on food or developing pneumonia.
In a presentation to the Health Selection Committee, Gabe Rypma said that he was a defender of the right to die because Rachel Rypma had inspired him to see the world through her eyes.
“There is a better way, and together we should be able to show dignity and respect to the individual. We owe that dignity to Rachel, who has taught and given us so much about living with death from a young age. “
