Dalla sezione podcasts del New York Times un lavoro di Linsey Addario, photojournalist, sull’eutanasia di una grande atleta paralimpica.

“Belgium has some of the world’s most liberal euthanasia laws. A photojournalist documented a paralympian’s experience of them.”

Marieke Vervoort was a champion athlete. She had won four Paralympic medals and two triathlon world titles, held four records for track, and competed in the Iron Man in Hawaii in her wheelchair.

In 2016, Vervoort, who had a progressive disease, announced her retirement from professional sports and spoke of her desire to undergo euthanasia.

Today, we hear Vervoort’s story from Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist who documented the end of her life.

“In most of my experiences covering Iraq and Afghanistan and Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur, I’m photographing people who are trying not to die,” Lynsey said. “Marieke was the first person I had really met who wanted to die.”

Lo stesso racconto, attraverso le parole dell’autrice, dall’articolo del New York Times.

But there never really seemed to be a right time to die. While Marieke first did the paperwork for euthanasia in 2008, she admitted she wasn’t ready to end her life then. She just wanted the option of knowing she had the power and the permission to do so when the pain became unbearable. In the years I photographed Marieke, her condition deteriorated, and she selected three dates for euthanasia. All came and went, for different reasons, and the story — and our friendship — continued.