Grieving mum says son wanted assisted death instead of 'horrific' cancer pain

Millie Blenkinsop-French told ITV News her son James was being "eaten alive inside" by cancer

A grieving mother on the Isle of Man says her son would have "opted for assisted dying" to spare him the pain of his cancer, if it had been legal at the time.

Millie Blenkinsop-French, from Douglas, believes those against the introduction of a Manx law on assisted dying have "never" watched their loved ones suffer similar pain.

Her son James died of skin cancer in 2021 after, as his mother described it, being "eaten alive" by the disease.

Ms Blenkinson-French said her son would have chosen an assisted death over the painful wait for cancer to end his life.

She told ITV News: "It was a terrible cancer. It started in his neck, the size of a pea.

"Now, if you can imagine, the cancer was eating his neck and it was a horrific pain.

"He was being eaten alive inside. He had to suffer that pain until the end."

Ms Blenkinsop-French has been among those campaigning for a change in the law.

Asked whether her son would have chosen an assisted death, she said: "Without a doubt. We talked about it on several occasions.

"He was a very sensible boy, a very loving and a very caring boy. And he would have opted for assisted dying."

Ms Blenkinsop-French said he son had come to the island to help deal with her own cancer diagnosis, before he then fell ill.

"I was going through breast cancer", she said, "and my son - we were really, really close.

"James was diagnosed with cancer and then, unfortunately, he died and I didn't."

Politicians have spent months debating the island's assisted dying bill.

The 80-year-old has campaigned for those with a terminal diagnosis to be able to choose an assisted death for more than a decade.

She first petitioned the Isle of Man parliament on Tynwald Day 2014 - years before she lost her son.

"Modern medicine and all the rest of it are keeping people here when nature itself is saying it's time to go," she said.

"I think the ones that don't agree with it [assisted dying] are the ones that have never, ever watched their loved ones suffer the most excruciating pain and have to hang on."

The proposed legislation passed its third reading in the House of Keys today, 23 July, and will now progress to the Legislative Council for further debate and scrutiny.

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The bill could then receive Royal Assent as soon as 2025, with assisted dying potentially available to terminally ill Manx residents from 2027.