Exclusive:Assisted dying: 'If the law changed I could sit there and hold my mum's hand - she wouldn't have to die alone'

Josh Cook still vividly remembers the moment he found out his mother had killed herself.

The 33-year-old had been out coaching his stepson’s rugby league team in the morning on June 2 this year, before returning home to the house he shared with his mother, Lisa, in Huddersfield.

“I was about to bounce into the house to tell her how well he’d got on and I found her dead,” Mr Cook told The Yorkshire Post.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 57-year-old had suffered with Huntingdon’s Disease for most of her life and her son also inherited it, being diagnosed when he was 18. 

The incurable neurological condition causes people to physically and mentally deteriorate over time, with symptoms usually starting between the ages of 30 and 50.

Mrs Cook had stockpiled medication, and in June took her own life “because her symptoms had reached a point where she wasn’t happy living”, Mr Cook explained.

The pair had long been campaigners for legalising assisted dying, and MPs will vote on this matter at the end of the month for the first time in nine years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When life is difficult, Samaritans are here – day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.

Lisa and Josh Cook. Credit: Josh CookLisa and Josh Cook. Credit: Josh Cook
Lisa and Josh Cook. Credit: Josh Cook | Josh Cook

They would have to be mentally fit and approved by two doctors and a High Court judge. Anyone guilty of coercing someone into an assisted death could face up to 14 years in prison.

Ms Leadbeater explained that she expects hundreds rather than thousands of people to apply to use such a service, as under the bill patients would be required to self-administer the drugs to end their lives.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Labour MP has said the current legislation is “not fit for purpose” and leads to tragedies like Mrs Cook’s.

“If the law was changed it could have been so different,” Mr Cook said.

“I could sit there and hold my mum’s hand and she wouldn’t have to die alone.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in her office in the Houses of Parliament, London; she is behind the private member's bill, The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Stefan Rousseau/PA WireLabour MP Kim Leadbeater in her office in the Houses of Parliament, London; she is behind the private member's bill, The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater in her office in the Houses of Parliament, London; she is behind the private member's bill, The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

“Use palliative care, use other care systems knowing that when things become intolerable you can have a dignified end without having to push family away, without having to secretly stockpile medications or run round to get their hands on things to end their lives. 

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They can do so with peace and dignity and give the family comfort, rather than more pain.

“With the law not changing, another person has had to kill themselves and die alone and horribly.”

Mr Cook said his mother “gave me everything and she prepared me the best way she could to deal with this”.

He explained that she struggled to walk and “she used to slur her speech which was the biggest one for her - she hated that”.

Now he’s considering his own future with Huntington’s.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Josh Cook is worried about how Huntington's Disease will affect playing rugby league and rugby union. Credit: Josh CookJosh Cook is worried about how Huntington's Disease will affect playing rugby league and rugby union. Credit: Josh Cook
Josh Cook is worried about how Huntington's Disease will affect playing rugby league and rugby union. Credit: Josh Cook | Josh Cook

“Since about the age of six or seven I’ve known I won’t go through this illness, I’ve known I’ll have to take my own life,” he said frankly.

Currently, Mr Cook plays rugby league for Moldgreen and rugby union for Huddersfield, while coaching youth teams at both.

“I work and play and train and coach, and I’m going from all of this to becoming a shell of who I was. 

“There’s no palliative care for that, there’s no symptom controls for that, there’s absolutely nothing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Death doesn’t scare me, what scares me is the way my death comes about.”

The debate around the subject, ahead of the MP vote on 29 November, has been fierce.

Rachael MaskellRachael Maskell
Rachael Maskell

High-profile supporters of a change in the law include Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and revealed in December that she had joined Dignitas due to the current law.

Her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, campaigned outside Parliament on Thursday, saying: “I’m here today, on behalf of my mother and my family, alongside all the hundreds of other families similarly suffering under this present, cruel ban on assisted dying. Our plea to MPs is simply to ‘let us choose’.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, Right To Life UK has branded the proposed legislation “a disaster in waiting”, and described the planned measures as a “monumental change to our laws”.

Campaign group Our Duty Of Care, representing doctors and nurses, has sent a letter to the Prime Minister arguing it is “impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include protection from coercion and future expansion”.

Rachael Maskell, the Labour MP for York Central, told The Yorkshire Post that she feels the bill “is massively unsafe, it’s not well written and it’s not well thought through”.

“It’s not just that I’m against it, it’s unamendable,” she said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ms Maskell explained that she was concerned that the bill would allow elderly people to be coerced into taking up assisted dying and felt like the safeguards are a “tickbox form”.

She was also left “shocked” that a doctor could raise it as an option to their terminally ill patients and said she feared this “is the beginning of the slippery slope”.

Ms Maskell, who was a care worker in the NHS before entering Parliament, said she felt “hugely sympathetic” to people like Mr Cook.

“I recognise some people do want to make a choice of their own, but their choice, through this legislation, could remove the choice of others because of the coercive nature of our society,” she added. 

“It’s almost one choice versus another choice. I do believe that Parliament is there to protect the vulnerable, and I take that duty very seriously.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice