A mother-of-two has applied to be euthanized in Canada because she is lonely and estranged from her family and friends.
Jacquie Holyoak, 60, does not have a terminal condition, but suffers from sensitivity to pain which she says has left her bed-bound, depressed and wanting ‘a way out’.
She has spoken to DailyMail.com as Canada considers expanding its assisted dying laws to those who are suffering from mental illness, which would grant people like Ms Holyoak the ability to legally kill themselves.
Ms Holyoak has fibromyalgia, a condition suffered by 4million Americans that causes muscle and bone aches and is treated with painkillers. She has also been diagnosed with depression.
The former nursing assistant — who has been unemployed and on disability benefits for a decade — says the pain from her condition has left her unable to do anything except stay in bed and watch television all day — making her extremely lonely.
Jacquie Holyoak, 60, does not have a terminal condition but instead wants to end her life because she lives in pain and poverty and would like to find a way out
Ms Holyoak, pictured above with her two daughters, Haley (left) and Michelle, is estranged from her family and lives alone in social housing
Ms Holyoak told DailyMail.com: ‘I don’t really have anyone in my life… there is absolutely no quality — there isn’t even money to go out and get a cup of coffee.
‘So, I just sit at home and I watch soccer games.’
‘My life is just gradually deteriorating and deteriorating — but society dictates that I am going to have to stay here.’
She is estranged from both of her adult daughters.
Nowadays, she relies on deliveries and rare visits from friends as her only social interaction at her social housing home in Fergus, Ontario.
Ms Holyoak told DailyMail.com she had applied for assisted dying in mid-2022 solely based on her fibromyalgia — but had the request denied.
She planned to apply again this year when Canada was set to ease the requirements to also give the option to people who had been struggling with mental health issues.
But that decision was postponed while officials started to train psychiatrists to ensure it was only offered to the right candidates.
The above graph shows the number of people who have undergone assisted deaths in Canada by year since the option became available in 2016. In 2021, the rule was eased to give the option to people with an ‘incurable condition’ rather than terminal
Oregon in the US is now seeing a record number of people ending their lives in the state, after it became America’s first suicide tourism destination in 2022
Ms Holyoak said she was ‘upset’ about the delay, adding that she is already refusing to take her high blood pressure medications because she doesn’t want to carry on.
In Canada, assisted death for the terminally ill was made available in 2016 but this was then revised in 2021 to make it available to those suffering from an ‘incurable condition’ and suffering from a ‘low quality of life’.
To request assisted dying, Ms Holyoak will first need to make a written request to her doctor — signed by a witness such as a social worker.
Two independent physicians, such as psychiatrists, will then review her application and decide whether it meets the threshold for assisted death because of mental health.
Patients will need to have suffered from a mental health condition that is ‘grievous and irremediable’ for a protracted period of time.
If her request is approved, Ms Holyoak would then be given the opportunity to withdraw her request and also directed to mental health services for further counseling.
If she is fully approved she will be given a lethal dose of anesthesia.
Since assisted dying was made available in Canada in 2016, the number choosing the route has surged to as many as 13,000 people by 2022 – up from 5,600 people in 2019.
A small proportion of these — less than three percent in the latest year — are among people who do not have a terminal condition.
Ms Holyoak described the happiest years of her life as in the 1980s when she had a husband and lived with her two children and two dogs in a house in St Thomas, near the US border.
But then she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and also suffered from depression, which led to the peaceful family unit falling apart.
Ms Holyoak added: ‘When you are a mother, the whole thing was to be a mother — and suddenly I am not.
‘I just fell, I kept falling each year, I got further and further down each year.
‘This is eating and rotting away at me so of course I would choose [assisted dying].’
The above shows her pantry and fridge. Ms Holyoak says she gets about $1,300 a month from the Canadian Government, or the equivalent of around $200 a week after rent
This image shows her social housing property where she lives. In this image, it was decorated for Christmas. She said that this year she did not decorate for the festive period
Ms Holyoak had previously worked as a nursing assistant and managed to buy her own townhouse before she was struck with depression that left her unable to work
Ms Holyoak later retrained as a nursing assistant and got a job at a local clinic, eventually managing to purchase her own townhouse.
But then the fibromyalgia and depression hit again, leading to her gradually losing everything and being put on benefits.
She now receives $1,300 from the Government every month to cover everything, including rent, which she says is too little.
‘I don’t have enough to get good food, to get a coffee with someone,’ she said.
‘For the longest time, I was surviving on one and a half meals a day, with one being cereal and the other a boneless chicken thigh in a bun.
‘When I get up, I wait three hours before I eat. And then I hold off, hold off, for as long as I can until I have my dinner. My whole day is about me trying not to be hungry.’
Fibromyalgia is a condition thought to be caused by damage to nerves in the body.
Doctors diagnose the condition via a process of elimination, with there being no direct test to identify patients.
Symptoms include severe pain in the body and pain from activities such as walking, sitting up or even from a hug.
Announcing the delay to the law change in February, Health Minister Mark Holland said: ‘At issue here is the question of readiness.
‘What we want to make sure is that the system is trained.’
About 13,000 people use assisted dying in Canada every year to end their lives for medical reasons. It is unclear how this number would shift if it was also approved for mental health.
Assisted dying is also available in ten states in the US — with two, Oregon and Vermont, now allowing people from out-of-state to travel there to end their lives.
There are currently no plans in any US states to expand the option to people suffering solely from mental health problems.
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