Ceara Rickard, who has terminal cancer, hopes SA passes euthanasia Bill so she can end her life at home with family

Ceara Rickard wants to flip the euthanasia stereotype. She has terminal cancer – but wants to die laughing and crying with her family in Adelaide.

Psychologist Ceara Rickard is dying.

But before she does, she wants to flip a stereotype of someone who chooses to end their life on their own terms, via euthanasia.

A smiley Ms Rickard wants South Australians to know that she is not a burden, she is not lonely, she is not old, she is not depressed, and, importantly, she does not want to die.

The South Australian, 35, has terminal breast cancer that has metastasised to her bones, liver and possibly her lungs.

Ms Rickard wants to die laughing, and crying, at home in Mount Barker with her family – including seven siblings – by her side.

She wants to be conscious and relatively pain free, right until her final goodbyes.

But the voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws that would guarantee her that final peace of mind do not yet exist in South Australia.

They do in Victoria, will in Western Australia, and were passed just last month in Tasmania, where Ms Rickard has been working since 2016.

Ceara Rickard, right, with her mother Jenny Warren and sister Wendy.

“I now face the difficult and unfair decision of going out on my own terms as I near the end of my life with my husband in Tasmania, or return to Mount Barker to be with my family, where I face the prospect of a terrible death if VAD laws are not passed,” Ms Rickard said.

On Wednesday, South Australian politicians will vote on the 17th Bill to legalise VAD in the past 25 years. If successful, it will be the first Bill to pass a chamber of state parliament.

“These laws are not about people choosing death, but giving people a death that works for them when they are already dying and death is near,” Ms Rickard said.

“The choice of whether I die is not one that I get to make. But how and when I die can be a choice and is one I should be free to make.”

Ceara Rickard, who lives in Hobart, has terminal cancer and hopes SA will pass its assisted dying laws so she can end her life with her family at home in Mount Barker. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Cancer has spread to Ms Rickard’s bones, causing a number of fractures and excruciating back and leg pain, requiring admission to hospital. She has between one and four years to live.

“I don't want to leave my life; it is rich and fulfilling and worth preserving, and I wish I could live until I was 90,” Ms Rickard said.

“But my desire to live does not replace the fact that I am dying. Nor should it end in absolute agony witnessed by my family and friends, who risk being traumatised or face legal consequences if they fulfil my wishes in SA.

“Because, anyone who has witnessed the very best palliative care can tell you it can still be a pretty awful death.”

World-class palliative care must be costed

The nation’s peak Catholic health and aged-care body is calling on the State Government to properly cost gold- standard palliative care options before legalising voluntary assisted dying (VAD).

Catholic Health Australia (CHA) said between 6000 and 10,000 South Australians needed palliative care each year, and there was a large funding gap to treat those wanting to remain in their own homes.

CHA chief executive Pat Garcia, pictured, said parliamentarians must first understand what other models of care could be used to manage pain for terminally ill patients.

“No one wants to see their loved ones suffer unnecessarily at the end of life, but this Bill is not the answer,” Mr Garcia said. “Assisted suicide laws ignore the causes of the suffering of people that can so often be effectively addressed with the appropriate palliative and end- of-life care.”

He said South Australians deserved a choice – “but not a choice between pain or death”.

“They deserve a further option to access palliative care – a life-supporting choice that manages pain using the latest technologies and analgesics, and that research shows improves and extends quality of life,” he said.

CHA represents SA Catholic health and aged-care providers including the Mary Potter Hospice at the Calvary Hospital, in North Adelaide.

Originally published as Ceara Rickard, who has terminal cancer, hopes SA passes euthanasia Bill so she can end her life at home with family