Twelve-year-old Nancy couldn’t walk, talk, eat or drink.
The little girl, from Essex in the UK, was born blind and suffering from hydrocphalus, meningitis and septicaemia, and had to be fed, watered and medicated through a tube.
UK newspaper The Mirror reports the girl needed 24-hour hospital care because of her severe disabilities; despite heavy medication, Nancy would spend hours screaming in pain.
Nancy’s mother Charlotte Fitzmaurice, 36, and father David Wise, 47, met the ethics board at Nancy’s hospital to beg them to put an end to Nancy’s suffering. While doctors agreed to stop feeding her, they could not withdraw all fluids – which meant it would take Nancy months to die.
Charlotte Fitzmaurice. (Screenshot via The Sunday Mirror)
“There was no way I was going to let her stay in extreme pain for months”, Charlotte told The Mirror.
So the devoted mother, who years ago gave up her nursing job to become Nancy’s full-time carer, went to court to fight for the right for her daughter to die.
“At the end of the day she really didn’t have any sense of awareness of the fact that I was her mum,” Charlotte told The Mirror.
“She go to the point where even the smallest amount of liquid going through her tube would mean she would scream for hours, days even.”
“The light from her eyes is now gone and is replaced with fear and a longing to be at peace,” Charlotte said in a statement read out in court. “Today I am appealing to you for Nancy as I truly believe she has endured enough. For me to say that breaks my heart… But I have to say it.”