Woman to die under voluntary assisted dying laws will miss ‘everything’ about her life

In the coming hours, 23-year-old Lily Thai will voluntarily take her final breaths after a long and painful battle with terminal illness.

In a matter of hours, Lily Thai’s life will come to a peaceful end.

It’s a moment that has been months in the works and will allow the 23-year-old, from Adelaide, to take her final breaths with dignity.

She has suffered a lengthy and painful battle with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and will be administered life-ending medication today under the state’s recently passed voluntary assisted dying laws.

Ms Thai’s rare condition means her body’s immune system attacks her nervous system, leaving her in constant pain and reliant on other people to care for her.

The young woman comiserated missing out on milestones like finishing school and said she would miss “everything” about being alive.

“You never do the normal things like going to your high school graduation,” she told The Advertiser.

South Australia legalised voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in January and committed $18 million over five years for its safe delivery to people living with terminal illnesses.

Lily Thai, 23, will take her final breaths today under South Australia’s voluntary assisted dying laws. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Thai previously revealed her body had reached its limit in what treatments it could take.

“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.

Doctors will today doctors administer an IV medication 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 said.

The debilitating illness has plagued her ability to live a normal life since she was 17, with her having spent her remaining years receiving palliative care at the Flinders Medical Centre’s Laurel Hospice.

Over the past two years she and fellow terminal patient Annaliese Holland developed a close friendship, bonding over their shared experiences and mourning the lives they “never got to have”.

Ms Thai, 23, at Laurel Hospice with friend Annaliese Holland. Picture: Supplied

“For elderly or older people, (they) have memories to look back on to laugh about and cry about,” Ms Holland previously said.

“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.”

Lily Thai in June 2017. Picture: Supplied.

Her distraught mum couldn’t bear to be in the hospital room as her only child signed her final consent form last week.

“I feel pretty numb. I know how hard it will be for my family and friends,” she told 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.”

She said while the decision had been “hard and confronting”, it was comforting to have the choice to “die peacefully”.

“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 said.

Ms Thai, who said she would miss “everything” about being alive, had been able to plan parts of her funeral and said she had a “lovely place” for her burial picked out.

Lily Thai and Danika Pederzolli in the back of an ambulance, enjoying McDonald's at the beach. Picture: Danika Pederzolli/Facebook

She had also written letters to each of her loved ones reminding them of the treasured memories they shared together.

One of her final wishes before dying was a meal from McDonald’s and a trip to the beach – an experience her close friend and paramedic Danika Pederozolli was able to deliver on.

A heartwarming photo shared to Facebook showed Ms Thai with some Macca’s fries in the back of an ambulance staring out to the ocean.

Ms Pederzolli met Ms Thai through a St John’s Ambulance cadet program and she would remember her as having a “vibrant attitude, 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.”

In lieu of flowers, Ms Thai will invite donations for palliative research to The Hospital Research Foundation on her memorial card, which will be available to her funeral attendees.