‘I’ve planned my death for 2020 even though there’s nothing wrong with me – and I’d like to spend my final 24 hours with a toyboy’
JACQUELINE Jencquel plays with her grandchildren in her Parisian home, knowing that in two years time, she'll be dead.
But she doesn't have a terminal illness - Jacqueline has decided she wants to end her life on her own terms.
She has booked into an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland in 2020 where she will die the way she wants to.
She's one of almost 1,800 people who have planned their own deaths at one of the clinics - yet Jacqueline is perfectly healthy.
She told Sun Online: "I have decided my own death date. I know that in 2020 – I will die on my own terms."
Mother of two Jacqueline Jencquel, 75, lives in Paris where she campaigns for the right to die via assisted suicide for those over 75 - even when they're not terminally ill.
While euthanasia is illegal in the UK – it isn’t in numerous other countries including Holland, Switzerland, certain states in the US, Canada and Australia.
I'm killing myself so I don't end up in a home
Jacqueline, who is dating a younger man wants to die soon so she's not “burden” on society and her kids.
“I might not look it - but the harsh truth is I’m 75. I am fighting for the right for every person over 75 to choose when they get to die," she says.
“After 75 it's the ‘winter’ of life. There are very few people who don’t have something chronically wrong with them.
“I’ve had a good life, but things are happening to me. I’m already losing my memory. I keep forgetting important things.
"It’s not like forgetting someone or not remembering a name. I’ve started doing weird things. I’ve seen it in other people over the last 10 years. I know what the first signs are when someone starts to lose their lucidity.”
Jacqueline watched her mother endure a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer and also saw her father succumb to Alzheimer’s – nursing him until the end.
"I've looked death in the face many times.
“I’m afraid of losing my sanity - and not being clear in my mind. It might not happen today or tomorrow or in a year. But it’s going to happen.
“I don’t want to die but if I don't the risk is I end up in a nursing home.”
I'll drink vodka with a young man
Jacqueline, who says she has seen everywhere she wants to go to on Earth, knows exactly how she will spend her last day alive.
“I’ll have already said my goodbyes to my children. I don’t want any tears. If they cry and get upset then I will too. I want it be a deliciously perfect 24 hours,"; she tells us.
“I’ll drink enough vodka to be nicely drunk. I’d love an attractive young man with me. I don’t want to make love - but just to enjoy his presence and feel some desire. I adore male company.
"And then I will be ready to die in Switzerland via assisted suicide.”
Yet Jacqueline says that in order to take your own life there are strict requirements that must be met.
“The condition is that you are totally lucid. You must be able to state your name, date of birth and where you were born.
“Practically I need to be able to swallow the medication or apply the intravenous injection. If I’m not capable of doing these things on my own then no one will help me end my life. I do not want to risk that.”
For the last ten years Jacqueline has been campaigning for the right to die in Europe with EXIT in Switzerland and the pro-assisted suicide group ADMD in France. She believes it is “ inevitable” that in the future people will be able to choose when they die.
Why should I die in pain?
She explains: “The choice to die at the end of my – or your - life is vital. Things are routinely medically done without our consent because there isn’t the opportunity to say, “no, I’d rather not live any more.” Yet there should be.
“Thankfully nowadays women can give birth without pain so why should we die in pain? It should be the same with death. You should be able to decide on a pain free death.
“The choice should be left to the person whose body it is. The options at the end of life are grim: from being chopped into pieces to remove tumours and undergoing chemotherapy - to being placed in an old peoples home because there is no one to look after us."
Latest News:
"Old people should not be a burden for their children or society. We can’t afford to support an ageing population.
"I’m just asking for the choice. When people realise this they support me.
";I’d rather choose when to call it quits – wouldn’t you?"