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Comment by algaeontoast | Hacker News Reader

If I ever have a cancer diagnosis that would require extreme treatment or a pro-longed period of suffering, i.e. stage 3 or 4, I'd seriously consider shooting myself rather enduring months if not years of agony.

In theory I'd have insurance, however why put my family through years of seeing me suffer and become a person they might not recognize?

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2 years ago my Grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer, he was supposed to begin a course of chemo and various other treatments but instead he gathered the family around for a dinner one night and asked us all for our blessing not to go for treatment, it was a rather surreal moment. He died about 4 months later, he took some painkillers and a couple of other medications that improved his quality of life and in the end we all agreed that it was the best way, when he passed away he really wasn't much different than before the cancer, we avoided all of the agony of a long drawn out fight and watching him fall apart in front of us, he died happy and with dignity.

100%. I've done a round of chemo once, and I was 16, possibly the fittest I have ever been, and blessed with willful stubbornness then. It sucked donkey dick then, and I'd have none of those advantages now or in the future.

Live life to the fullest, make peace with the world, and go out on your own terms. Far better than eking out a couple years of pain and suffering being slowly poisoned.

For sake of reference, please look into hospice. They care for the terminally ill, focused on your pain and symptoms, and attend to your emotional and spiritual needs.

It's much nicer, and easier than making a huge mess for your family to clean up.

Perhaps not a decision you can truly consider until you get there. I've always been quite open to the idea of euthanasia in principle, but now that I live with a degree of chronic pain, I find myself becoming _vehemently_ anti-suicide - I'm not going to let this beat me - and the worse the pain is, the more intense that feeling becomes.

I'm quite aware there is probably a level of pain that may start my thinking in the opposition direction though, and no doubt different people will have different thoughts on and approaches to this.

I've often thought the same thing. If I'm looking at treatment that doesn't seem worth it, why should my only other option be to die on cancer's terms? Why not choose my own terms? I've talked to my wife about this, and of course our agreement is to do it in a way where she doesn't have to find me or deal with the mess — but you're not alone in this idea.

Because there is hope.

My point wasn't about hope, I "hope" to live a life without years of agony. Living through years of chemo on to live a diminished or slightly less-painful life with a looming chance of the cancer re-occurring isn't a life I "hope" to live.

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