British Mom Speaks Out About Her Legal Battle To Terminate Her Disabled Daughter’s Life

Nancy Fitzmaurice suffered most of her life due to her medical condition.

She was born blind with hydrocphalus, meningitis and septicaemia. Due to her failing health, she was never able to walk, talk, eat or drink on her own. However, things reportedly got even worse for the struggling 12-year-old when a routine operation left her screaming and wailing in excruciating pain and agony. As her health continued to wane, she would spend hours screaming in pain. She required 24-hour hospital care and had to be fed, watered and medicated through a tube.

According to Mirror UK, she was administered Morphine and Ketamine, but the Her mother, Charlotte Fitzmaurice, could no longer stand to see her child suffer. Life inside London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital was no quality of life for a child her age. So, Charlotte made the heartbreaking suggestion to end her child’s life.

She and her husband, David Wise, stood before a High Court judge to make the heart-wrenching request for their daughter’s right to die. She issued a 324-statement to support her request. She recounted the endless hardships her daughter faced in those agonizing 12 years.

Here’s what she had to say:

“My daughter is no longer my daughter, she is now merely just a shell,” Charlotte wrote in her statement back in August. “The light from her eyes is now gone and is replaced with fear and a longing to be at peace. Today I am appealing to you for Nancy as I truly believe she has endured enough. For me to say that breaks my heart. But I have to say it.”

“We were constantly in and out of hospital. She never developed more than a six-month-old child,” she wrote. “Simple things like birds singing and hearing children play would put the most beautiful smile on her face. She loved Michael Buble and when I slurped my tea she would give out a hearty chuckle. I gave her the best quality of life she could possibly have.”

“She was screaming and writhing in agony 24 hours a day. Not being able to ease her suffering was too much to bear,” she wrote. “She wasn’t my angelic child any more, she was a shell. I wanted beautiful ­memories of Nancy, not soul-crushing ones. After a whole weekend of her screaming in agony, I decided I wasn’t going to watch my little girl suffer any more.”

“The last day was the hardest of my life. I miss my beautiful girl every day and although I know it was the right thing to do, I will never forgive myself,” Charlotte said. “It shouldn’t have to be a mother’s ­decision to end a child’s life, I believe hospitals and parents should be able to decide without mothers or fathers going to court. I want parents to know it’s OK to want your child to be at peace, it doesn’t mean you love them any less. Watching my daughter suffer for days while they cut off her fluids was unbearable. She went in pain. It will stay with me forever. Although I will live with the guilt forever, I know I have done ­everything I can for her and she is at peace.”

Nancy Fitzmaurice died in the hospital on Aug. 21.

The Staff of The Inquisitr send their heartfelt condolences to Charlotte Fitzmaurice and David Wise on the passing of their daughter, Nancy. May they find comfort in the knowledge that Nancy is finally at peace and without pain.

[Image via Scotsman.com]