Heather's story of being pressured to "choose" MAiD.
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I've spent every moment from my first breath to the one a second ago fighting for what others take for granted. Why? I have Spastic Cerebral Palsy and have been labelled by doctors, teachers, therapists, lawyers, and society in general, as a second class citizen.
I live in Canada on the vast open prairies of Saskatchewan, but this province has only been my home for the last 5 years. I was born in Calgary, Alberta before there were NICUs and I weighed a whopping 1 pound 6 ounces at twenty-five weeks gestation. I should have died with less than a 2% chance of survival, but I was breathing on my own. There's no medical explanation for it... but God. I was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when I was two. The doctors solemnly told my parents to put me into an institution for the rest of my short life as I "would never amount to anything." The medical community was in agreement that all disabled children were also retarded. A trip to the University of Alberta put an end to that false assumption …