British mum heads to a Swiss clinic to end her life after her only son’s death

TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains references to suicide.A grieving British woman is heading to a Swiss assisted suicide clinic to end her own life after the death of her only son.Wendy Duffy, 56, a former care worker from the West Midlands in England, is physically healthy but is now travelling to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, according to The Times.“I want to die, and that’s what I’m going to do. My life; my choice,” Duffy told the Daily Mail. She decided to end her life via ‘assisted dying’ after her only son passed away four years ago.Duffy applied to Pegasos, a clinic that specialises in ‘voluntary assisted dying (VAD)’, and her application was accepted.

She has paid the $13,400 fee and has written letters to her loved ones. The woman is in Switzerland, with plans to undergo the VAD procedure on Friday, 24 April.Duffy lost her only child, Marcus, in 2022. He was 23. According to the mum, Marcus had been hungover and had fallen asleep on the sofa while eating a sandwich. “I’d been making myself one, cheese and onion, and he said he’d have one. ‘Throw a couple of those cherry tomatoes on mine,’ he said,” Duffy recalled.

She left the room, and when she returned, Marcus was ‘purple’. Though Duffy performed CPR on her son, it did not work.

They found that half a cherry tomato had been lodged in his windpipe, cutting off oxygen to his brain.The death of her only child was hard on her. “I used to feel things. I’d go to funerals after Marcus died, and I’d feel nothing. It’s why I had to give up work. You can’t be a carer if you don’t care, and I’m sorry, but I don’t.

I don’t care about anything any more. I exist. I don’t live,” she told People. Duffy split from her husband when Marcus was four. She had earlier attempted to end her own life, which left her on a ventilator in a ‘vegetative state’.

According to the woman, suicide is the only way her ‘spirit can be free’.Speaking to the Daily Mail, the woman revealed that she has been in therapy since the death of her son. She believes VAD is the only way she can spare others the trauma of witnessing the results of her decision.“I could step off a motorway bridge or a tower block, but that would leave anyone finding me dealing with that for the rest of their lives. I don’t want to put anyone through that,” she told the publication.The woman has four sisters and two brothers, who are all aware of her decision. “My ashes will be sent back to my family, and I want them scattered at his bench in the park, with his. It’s all planned,” she said.She added: “I will call them when I get to Switzerland. It will be a hard call where I’ll say goodbye and thank them.

But they will understand. They know.”The woman says she has made up her mind to end her life with dignity. “I don’t want to wait for the struggle. I want to go while I’m still me.”DISCLAIMER: f you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, anxiety, depression, or mental illness, please seek professional help immediately from a doctor, mental health expert, or NGO. Helplines are also available.