In order to “quietly end his life,” a woman who is nearing the end of her life has confessed to inflicting loss on her son, who was seven years old and suffering from a fatal illness.

Hamish Cooper, a child of Antonya Cooper, who lived in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and was ‘facing the most awful pain’ before to his loss in 1981.

“He was telling me he was in pain and asking me if I could remove his pain,” she claimed, adding that as a mother, she was “not going to let him suffer.” Hamish was having this conversation with her.

Having been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare kind of cancer that mostly affects youngsters, the courageous kid had been fighting the disease since the age of five, and they had been given just three months to live.

And in spite of the fact that he had been receiving ‘beastly’ cancer therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for sixteen months, Hamish’s incurable sickness had left him in continual anguish.

When Mrs. Cooper was asked about her choice to provide a significant amount of morphine to her young son, she said, “It was the appropriate thing to get done.” Despite the fact that my kid was going through the most excruciating agony and suffering, I was not going to let him go through that.

Mrs. Cooper, who is now undergoing her own fight against terminal disease, has detailed in a manner that is both tragic and compelling how she assisted her son in passing away after he requested her to alleviate his suffering.

“When Hamish told me that he was in a lot of pain on his last night, I asked him, ‘Would you like me to remove the pain?'” This is what Mrs. Cooper shared with BBC Radio Oxford: “And he said, ‘Yes please, mama'”

“I administered a substantial quantity of morphine to him through his Hickman Catheter, which ultimately resulted in the peaceful termination of his life.”

A question was posed to the dying 77-year-old woman by BBC Radio Oxford, inquiring whether or not she felt that her son was aware of her intention to terminate his life.

The response that she gave was, “I have a very strong feeling that at the point when Hamish told me that he was in pain and asked me if I could remove his pain, he knew, he knew somewhere what was going to happen.”

“But I cannot obviously tell you why or how, but I was his mother, and he loved his mother, and I totally loved him, and I was not going to let him suffer, and I feel that he really knew where he was going,” she said. “But I was his mother.”

This disclosure comes at a time when Mrs. Cooper is actively working to reform the legislation regarding assisted suicide.

Euthanasia, which is defined as the purposeful termination of a person’s life, and assisted suicide, which is defined as the act of actively assisting another person in terminating their life, are both prohibited in the United Kingdom.

As a result of Mrs. Cooper’s admission to the BBC, she may now be subject to an inquiry by the competent authorities.

According to her response to the radio station’s question about whether or not she was aware that she may have confessed to manslaughter or murder, she said, “Yes.”

If they arrive 43 years after I have allowed Hamish to pass away quietly, then I will be forced to face the repercussions of my actions. Nevertheless, they would need to act quickly since I am also passing away,’ Mrs. Cooper said.

In the year 1981, Hamish passed away at his residence.

When Hamish began sobbing out of pain and losing weight in 1979, after he had become five years old, Antonya instinctively understood that he was “seriously ill.” Hamish had been weeping out of pain since 1979.

In spite of this, she went to seven different general practitioners for a total of thirteen weeks before she finally made the decision to take Hamish to a private paediatrician at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Even after that, she was informed that there was “nothing wrong.”

Antonya ‘insisted’ that more tests be performed, such as blood tests and an X-ray, and it was subsequently discovered that Hamish had a tumor in his belly that was the size of a grapefruit. The tumor was a stage 4 neuroblastoma.

After that, Hamish was sent to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where he was treated with chemotherapy, a bone marrow autograft, radiation, and surgery to remove the malignant tissue, which had reduced to the size of a tangerine during the course of his treatment.

The prognosis for him was three months, and he went on to have therapy at GOSH for a total of sixteen months, which “ruined parts of his body” but ultimately prolonged his chances of survival.

When asked about the “probability of his not surviving,” Antonya said that she would have open and honest chats with Hamish and his sister Tabitha, who were described as being “thick as thieves…”

Antonya responded to one of Hamish’s queries by saying, “Yes, Hamish, you probably will passing.” This occurred at a later point in time, despite the fact that Hamish did not explicitly inquire about loss.

This was a very difficult task, but after his treatments were over, he went back to school, his hair began to grow back, and during the summer of 1981, the family went on vacation to the beach.

Hamish, on the other hand, had a bump on one of his ankles in the fall, which resulted in the development of septic arthritis. This led to the taking of biopsies, which subsequently indicated that his cancer had “returned with a vengeance.”

At this time, Antonya said that they “knew that was the final journey.” On December 1, 1981, Hamish passed away after getting palliative care at home and being administered morphine sulphate.

When asked about the effects of his passing, she said, “The straightforward explanation is that you are afflicted with an amputation, and it takes some time for you to learn how to live with that amputation.”

Hamish, on the other hand, had a bump on one of his ankles in the fall, which resulted in the development of septic arthritis. This led to the taking of biopsies, which subsequently indicated that his cancer had “returned with a vengeance.”

At this time, Antonya said that they “knew that was the final journey.” On December 1, 1981, Hamish passed away after getting palliative care at home and being administered morphine sulphate.

When asked about the effects of his passing, she said, “The straightforward explanation is that you are afflicted with an amputation, and it takes some time for you to learn how to live with that amputation.”

“Even if it does not go to trial, many people will be subject to an investigation that lasts for two years.” There are two children in my family, and I have a young family. In addition, I have a complicated work. It is not fair that I should have to put myself in danger of going to jail simply to keep mother company, but I am not sure that I could let her go by herself.

“It is an impossible decision to have to make: either risk possible prosecution at the worst time of my life, when I have just lost my cherished mother, or do the unthinkable and let her pass away alone in a foreign country with no one she knows or loves to hold her hand,” she said. “It is a decision that I cannot make.”

Additional remarks were made by Wilcox, who said, “The idea of her actually passing away is revolting, but the idea of her passing away in pain is incomprehensible.”

“Her health is not very good, and there is no treatment available for her illness.” A painful loss may be the result of the prognosis, and palliative care and opiate medicines may not be able to alleviate the suffering of the patient.

Forty years after the passing of her son, Mrs. Cooper is now coming to grips with the fact that she has an incurable form of cancer.

I am not a religious person, but there is a little voice inside me that says it would be fantastic if I could snuggle Hamish again. She continued by saying, “I am not a religious person.”

In England and Wales, the Suicide Act of 1961 makes it possible for anybody who assists or encourages another person to end their own life to be prosecuted and sentenced to a prison sentence of up to fourteen years if they are proven guilty of another offense.

According to the second section of the act, a person is guilty of committing an offense if they carry out an act that is capable of encouraging or aiding the suicide or attempted suicide of another individual, and the conduct was meant to promote or assist suicide or an attempt at suicide.

In 2015, members of parliament, as well as former Prime Minister David Cameron, voted against a bill that would have legalized assisted suicide.

Faith-based organizations, activists who believe handicapped individuals may feel compelled to end their life, and campaigners who are concerned that assisted suicide will become a business have all voiced their opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment.

The courts in Scotland have said that providing assistance and being present with a person who is seeking a medically assisted loss in a nation such as Switzerland would not typically result in a criminal conviction.

Patients who visit or intend to visit clinics such as Dignitas would not be in violation of any laws if they did it on their own.

As of the most recent data that is available, the Crown Prosecution Service conducted investigations into 182 incidents of aided suicides that occurred between April 2009 and March 2023. Nevertheless, the location of the events that took place remains unknown.

Those four were successfully brought to justice. Eight of the charges were upgraded to murder or other severe crimes, while another was charged but found not guilty of the charges.

Two more are currently under progress.

Note that the crime of helping someone in committing suicide is not limited to situations involving medical conditions.

The act of attempting to coerce or push healthy individuals into taking their own lives is another kind of offense that may be recorded.

More than four hundred people from the United Kingdom have passed away as a result of Dignitas’s service since 2009.

There are at least 27 countries throughout the globe that have legalized assisted suicide or assisted dying procedures of some kind.

By Anna

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