Die Smiling: A Memoir: The Sorrows and Joys of a Journey to Dignitas

Die Smiling is a rare and intimate account of one man's journey to Dignitas in Zurich and his ultimate triumph over suffering and disease. Julie Casson traces her husband Nigel's journey from diagnosis of motor neurone disease to his death, showing his courage and good humor in the face of adversity. The book raises questions about the right to put an end to suffering and the right to choose how life should end.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 366 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2024
Publisher: Canbury Press

A searingly honest tale of love, life, and death – Sarah Wootton, Dignity in Dying

Die Smiling is a rare and intimate account of one man's journey to Dignitas in Zurich and his ultimate triumph over suffering and disease.

Told with wit and candour, Julie Casson traces her husband Nigel's extraordinary journey from diagnosis of motor neurone disease to his death.

A successful businessman and father of three, Nigel battles the degenerative disease with boundless courage and gritty good humour, until, faced with the unimaginable torture of a slow, living death – his spirit crushed, his body a tomb – he takes control. He decides to go to Dignitas to end his life, while he is still able to die smiling.

The family prepares for this enormous logistical and emotional challenge: the gruelling Dignitas process and the 800-mile road trip to Switzerland. They complete it with pragmatism and humour. Denying motor neurone disease its victory and choosing his own cure, Nigel dies happily, in the arms of his wife and children.

This is a thought-provoking and deeply moving book, where love, family, dignity, and choice conquer adversity. It sits in the heart of the debate on assisted dying and raises questions about the right to put an end to suffering and the right to choose how life should end.

As Britain considers introducing an assisted dying bill, Die Smiling allows supporters of both sides of the debate to go inside a family battling a terminal illness and the difficult journey an individual and close relatives and friends go through at the end of life. It is a frank and loving memoir that explains the reality of MND's cruel symptoms and the experience of going to Dignitas.

Written with the tenderness of With the End in Mind and the wisdom of A Short Life, Die Smiling is a powerful testament to the human spirit's resilience and the power of love and choice in the face of adversity.

Weight: 420g
Dimension: 234 x 154 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781914487262