France has just
awarded the Légion
d’honneur to a woman who has been a locked-in quadriplegic for 30 years.
Maryannick
Pavageau received the distinction for her battle against euthanasia. A
resident
of Sainte Nazaire, on the Atlantic coast, she gave an interview about
her life to
the local newspaper after this week’s award:
“I was 30 years old when I was struck down by this syndrome after a
stroke. The disease was little known at the time, but Jean-Dominique
Bauby has
described it in his book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It is a
paralysis
of the limbs, sometimes more, but you retain consciousness. I was one of
the
first to survive. After three months in a coma, I woke up to the
amazement of the
doctors! I started speech therapy and I spent 32 months in the
hospital.”
Mme Pavageau is a member of the
Association of Locked-in Syndrome (ALIS) and contributed to the 2008
Leonetti
commission report about euthanasia in France. “All life is worth
living,”
she told the newspaper. It can be beautiful, regardless of the state we
are in.
And change is always possible. That is the message of hope that I wish
to
convey. I am firmly against euthanasia because it is not physical
suffering that
guides the desire to die but a moment of discouragement, feeling like a
burden…
All those who ask to die are mostly looking for love.”
Despite her
paralysis and her need for round-the-clock care, she was inspired by her
love
for her family to fight for life. “My life is not
what it could have been but it’s my life. Finally, I have been faithful
to my
values. I had the love of my husband and my daughter Miriam, who was two
years old
at the time and that gave me the strength to fight. Despite my
difficulties speaking
Miriam has always understood me.”
She is proud to receive France’s highest decoration: “The Legion of
Honor
is a great recognition and I am very proud and excited to be decorated.
Everyone who has a just and strong message to pass on should receive
it.”
Two years ago, she
wrote
an article in which she strongly criticised discussion of
euthanasia
in the media. “Public statements produce unexpected collateral damage
amongst
people suffering from serious illness such as Locked-In Syndrome. We are
constant
consumers of TV and radio programs. In response to our deep
discouragement –
and who is free from that? – we are only offered this final right,
hypocritically
baptised as a sign of love. A recent study on the quality of life of
locked-in sydndrome patients
found, to the astonishment of the medical profession, that when asked
‘if you had
a heart attack, would you want to be resuscitated?’, the great majority
of us
answered: Yes.” ~ Saint-Nazaire.maville.com,
Oct
27
