Die Smiling is a rare and intimate account of one man’s journey to Dignitas in Zurich and his ultimate triumph over suffering and disease.
Told with wit and candour, Julie Casson traces her husband Nigel’s extraordinary journey from diagnosis of motor neurone disease to his death.
A successful businessman and father of three, Nigel battles the degenerative disease with boundless courage and gritty good humour, until, faced with the unimaginable torture of a slow, living death – his spirit crushed, his body a tomb – he takes control. He decides to go to Dignitas to end his life, while he is still able to die smiling.
The family prepares for this enormous logistical and emotional challenge: the gruelling Dignitas process and the 800-mile road trip to Switzerland. They complete it with pragmatism and humour. Denying motor neurone disease its victory and choosing his own cure, Nigel dies happily, in the arms of his wife and children.
This is a thought-provoking and deeply moving book, where love, family, dignity and choice conquer adversity. It sits in the heart of the debate on assisted dying and raises questions about the right to put an end to suffering and the right to choose how life should end.
As Britain considers introducing an assisted dying bill, Die Smiling allows supporters of both sides of the debate to go inside a family battling a terminal illness and the difficult journey an individual and close relatives and friends go through at the end of life. It is a frank and loving memoir that explains the reality of MND's cruel symptoms and the experience of going to Dignitas.
Written with the tenderness of With the End in Mind and the joy of Dr Rachel Clarke's Dear Life, this book has stayed in the minds of readers: an intimate portrait of a family loving life and united in death.
Although Die Smiling is a personal memoir and definitely not a campaign book, its publication has been welcomed by Sarah Wootton, CEO of Dignity in Dying, as an important contribution to the debate on assisted dying.
Die Smiling by Julie Casson was published by Haythorp Books on 15 February 2024. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.
The debate about the legalisation of assisted dying in the UK continues. Most people will have their own opinion about this. I've personally always been in favour of allowing those people who are terminally ill, and want to end their life with some dignity, to do so. There are many arguments raised from those who oppose it, and their opinions are just as relevant as my own.
Julie Casson tells her story, and the story of her husband Nigel in this extraordinary memoir. She does it with a frankness and candour that is enlightening and will make anyone, regardless of their existing beliefs, think hard about the choices that Nigel made.
What I want to say first is that I really wish that I had met Nigel. Julie paints such a wonderful picture of a bloke who loved life, who worked hard and adored his family. Nigel had started his own scaffolding business in Scarborough with very little money, over the years, the business grew and he and his family reaped the rewards. Nigel never forgot his roots, he still loved a pint with the lads, he enjoyed a round of golf and he was the ultimate joker. An all round, decent, funny bloke. We all know them, we all love them.
Nigel's diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease rocked his family to the core. None of them knew what it was, but all of them visited Google to find out. With a prognosis of three to five years, the future looked bleak. However, Nigel never ever let his illness define him, or beat him. He approached every hurdle with his trademark humour, he was the one that kept the family going. As the years passed, Nigel's body began to let him down, but his brain was as sharp as ever. When he made the decision that he was going to be in charge of his death, just as he'd been in charge of his life, and go to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, the massive planning operation started.
What an incredible journey this was. For most of us, it would be case of hopping onto a plane, booking into a hotel and attending our appointment. When you have an enormous motorised chair, need a hoist to go to the toilet and cannot stand too much stimulation, the game changers. With his usual determination, strength and sense of fun, Nigel and his family achieved what he wanted. Just as he wanted and when he wanted.
Not only does Die Smiling lay bear the hardest of truths about this devastating disease, it also tells the story of an amazing relationship between Nigel and Julie. It is a story filled with love, with hope, with joy and yes of course, with sadness.
Tenderly written, straight from the heart, this is a memoir that I savoured. Whilst of course, Nigel is no longer with us by the end of the book, I closed the final page with a sense of joy. Joy that there are families who are so caring and so loving and will do their utmost for each other. It is a brave and quite beautiful book. Highly recommended.
Julie Casson is a debut author. She is a mum, grandma and great-grandma and lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire with her beloved miniature schnauzer Bodger.
Julie spent twenty-three years working in Further Education. Starting out as a teacher, her career evolved into management. She holds an MA in management from the University of York.
Her career ended unexpectedly in 2007, when her husband, Nigel, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Julie became Nigel’s primary carer. Nigel’s positivity, humour and pragmatism throughout his illness, and his determination to take control of his death, are the inspiration for this memoir.
In 2011, she started a blog, posting light-hearted commentary on everyday existence and specific accounts of Nigel’s experience, which she later developed into this book. She completed a creative writing course at the University of York.
Julie is a supporter of the Motor Neurone Disease Association and member of Dignity in Dying. Her greatest wish is that Nigel’s story contributes to changing the law on assisted dying in the UK.
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