An aspiring doctor whose body is 'falling apart' aged just 27 has been 'documenting her death' on Instagram in a fight to legalise assisted dying.
Holly Warland was diagnosed with incurable Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) aged 11, which eventually forced her to give up her dream job.
The rare genetic condition is extremely painful and causes muscles to waste away, particularly on the hips and shoulders.
Miss Warland, of Queensland, Australia, had to start using a wheelchair aged 14 and is now predominantly bed-bound.
Holly Warland, pictured, from Queensland, Australia was diagnosed with a rare muscle-wasting condition called Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) when she was 11 and is 'documenting her death' on Instagram to fight to legalise assisted dying
Ms Warland's disease affects her hips and shoulders particularly and has left her bed-bound
Her partner and carer Luke, right, helps her do a variety of daily tasks from showering to watching television
Miss Warland, pictured, said she was using social media to show people the full extent of her condition and why she wants to 'die with dignity'
The 27-year-old, pictured, has succeeded in many aspects of her life and has received her Bachelors and Honours in Psychology, but was forced to quit a doctorate course by the condition
She said: 'Disabled people haven't always got feel good stories.
'We are broken and sometimes we have to accept that and the fact that it's permanent.
'I don't buy into the whole 'proud' of my disabled body thing. I lost the genetic lottery and here I am. I'm not proud and I would happily trade my body with someone else's.
'I consider my condition to be terminal, as I am not going to recover and it will shorten my life by, say 20 years or more.
'I started Instagramming how my body was falling apart to raise awareness of people like me, who want to die with dignity.'
She added she hopes posts of her unfiltered experience on Instagram - made with the help of her boyfriend, part-time photographer and videographer Luke Amos, 29 - will help people to understand why she feels legalisation is so important.
Miss Warland, pictured in hospital, said her Instagram pictures would be 'unfiltered' to show how her body was 'falling apart'
As her mobility became more restricted in her 20s, Miss Warland, pictured left and right, said: 'My life was thrown into chaos...as my condition worsened, I found a real lack of true representation of severe disability'
The aspiring doctor, pictured, said her family was 'crushed' when she told them she wanted to die but understand because of the level of pain she deals with
Her full-time carer, Luke, who she met on an online dating website and finally met in person in January 2015, is helping her, despite not wanting to lose her, because he has fallen deeply in love with Holly and has 'never had a single fight with her' even though times can be tough.
Miss Warland said her family were 'crushed' when she told them in October 2016 that she wished to decide when to die, but, after she explained the level of pain she lived with every day, they began to understand.
She said: 'We can joke about it now. My mum says I'm going to write a letter and say exactly what I think of everyone before I go!
'The way that I want to go would give everyone closure, even though it's incredibly hard.
'They love me so much that they are willing to let me make my own decision.'
Meanwhile, Miss Warland will continue with her Instagram posts, hoping to convince people that assisted dying should be legal everywhere, as long as strict guidelines are obeyed.
She continued: 'I use my Instagram to show the truth of what it's like, living with a condition like this.
'It is a means for me to vent online and document my disease as it changes
'But I also want something positive to come out of my disability and, as I always tell Luke, the only thing stopping me from opting for assisted dying is the law, which is ridiculous.
'If my posts can change one person's mind, then I'll be happy.'
Ms Warland, pictured, is now an advocate for Voluntary Assisted Dying in Australia
Ms Warland (pictured) could live until age 60, but said she did not want to leave her family with a 'horrid corpse'
Miss Warland currently has to be helped with a variety of everyday tasks, including showering and going to the toilet.
She could live until 50 or 60, but says she does not want to leave her family with a 'horrid corpse'.
Instead she wants to use assisted suicide to end her life, when she feels she has had enough.
Miss Warland said: 'There is no cure for people like me, only pills to ease the pain, nausea and heart complications that come with the illness.
'When I've had enough, I want to be able to decide to end my life, but I may need help and I don't want anyone to be prosecuted for assisting me.'
Her poignant words come within weeks of Louis Theroux's controversial BBC 2 documentary Choosing Death, screened earlier this month as part of a three part series, Altered States.
It explored assisted dying in California, USA, where it is legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill people.
Keen for assisted dying to be legalised in Australia, Miss Warland said: 'There are so many laws and ways to control life, but so little to control how and when we die.
'We shouldn't treat disabled people as though they all have a death wish, but we should at least let them have that choice.'
Before her diagnosis, Miss Warland described herself as a happy child growing up with her siblings, Adam, 25, Ben, 23 and Mia, 18, but she constantly struggled to keep up with the other children in her PE classes.
This condition causes gradual deterioration of all muscles from the chin down, leaving its victims bed-bound and reliant on care (pictures is Ms Warland)
Ms Warland's slow deterioration led to her partner Luke (left) documenting her daily life to show the effects the disability has on the human body
Becoming easily exhausted, she would crash out every day when she came home after school, unable to move.
During sports days, she would hide in the toilets, pretending to be sick to avoid getting involved - the kind of behaviour which, at first, led her parents to think she was lazy, despite her being an academically capable straight A student.
It was only when she saw her doctor complaining of a cold and she became concerned that everyone realised it was something far more serious.
'I thought I would just be prescribed some antibiotics, but the doctor saw that there was something else wrong with me,' said Holly.
'She noticed how slowly I moved, referred me to a specialist and within a year of monitoring and testing, I was diagnosed with LGMD.'
The devastating news hit Holly's parents, father Tony, 49, a real estate agent, and stay-at-home mother Teel, 58, the hardest, while she and her siblings were too young to understand the magnitude of her diagnosis.
Miss Warland knew her condition meant she would get weaker, but continued living as she always had done, regardless.
She started studying at Queensland's University of the Sunshine Coast for a degree in psychology - hoping to get her doctorate when she reached 25.
But everything changed when her LGMD took a massive turn for the worse, forcing her to quit her course in 2016 because of it.
'Luke catches me at my best and worst; from fancy dinners to vomiting in the shower, nothing is sugar-coated,' she said (pictured is Luke)
She said: 'Every day I began waking up to waves of nausea, a racing pulse, sore muscles, hyperventilation, and uncontrollable shaking.
'I became depressed and suicidal but, ironically, I was so weak I couldn't physically have killed myself even if I'd tried. I needed someone to unwrap a chocolate bar for me most of the time.'
While Holly worked through this difficult patch, it was the wake-up call that made her realise she wanted to be able to take her own life one day.
Explaining her views on ending her life, she said: 'As an atheist, I know once it's done I'll be extremely relieved to know there's nothing afterwards.
'I'm not scared, death is only hard for the people you leave behind.
'I'm not sure when it comes to it if I will be this brave, but I've had a lot of time to sit around in bed and think about it and I know it's what I want, although I don't like the word 'euthanasia,' as it sounds so negative - I see it as assisted dying.'
Linkhienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/11/29/aspiring-doctor-27-with-rare-disease-wants-to-legalise-assisted-dying/
Main photo article An aspiring doctor whose body is ‘falling apart’ aged just 27 has been ‘documenting her death’ on Instagram in a fight to legalise assisted dying.
Holly Warland was diagnosed with incurable Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) aged 11, which eventually forced her to give ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/12/21/6087476-6380279-_I_work_with_a_group_called_Dying_with_Dignity_Queensland_to_con-a-2_1542058193169.jpg
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