Belgian Paralympian Marieke Vervoort ends life at 40 through euthanasia
Marieke Vervoortn who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics, was leading her life with a degenerative spinal condition that caused her constant pain and made sleeping very difficult
FollowAtlanta: Belgian Paralympian Marieke Vervoort on Wednesday (October 23) ended her life at the age of 40 through legal euthanasia.
Vervoortn who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics, was leading her life with a degenerative spinal condition that caused her constant pain and made sleeping very difficult, CNN reported.
Euthanasia is legal in Belgium and in 2008 she had received assisted suicide approval after receiving consent from three different doctors.
A statement from her home city Diest also said that Vervoort "responded to her choice on Tuesday evening".
Belgium, Netherlands, Colombia, Luxembourg and Canada are the five countries that have made euthanasia legal.
She also won a gold in the T52 100m wheelchair race and silver in the 200m race at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Vervoortn also went on to bag two medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
"I no longer have a fear of death. I see it as an operation, where you go to sleep and never wake up. For me, it is something peaceful. I do not want to suffer when I am dying. When it becomes too much for me to handle than I have my life in my own hands," CNN had quoted Vervoortn as saying about signing euthanasia papers in 2016.
After signing the confirmation papers, Vervoort had said that she wanted to use the opportunity to educate other nations that lack assisted suicide measures for people whose suffering becomes unbearable.
She had decided to retire from the sport after 2016 Paralympics and she went on to admit that the sport had become "too hard on her body".
