SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

Remembering Shirley Nolan

Jim Oakey, brother of the late Shirley Nolan, made the following address to the Shirley Nolan Day rally:

As next of kin, and on behalf of the family thank you for coming today. Those that knew Shirley well would have known that she was a battler, in the true sense of the word. She would never take 'no' for an answer, she was tenacious in her quest for what is right when confronted by bureaucrats throughout her life. When Anthony Nolan was born with a rare bone marrow disease and given only hours to live, Shirley refuted the doctors and kept him alive up to his 9th birthday. In those nine years Shirley flitted between Australia and England forming the multi- million dollar Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust, which over the years has saved thousands of lives worldwide. Even though a donor was never found for Anthony she never ceased her work for the Trust, right to the end.

When Shirley was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in the early 1980s she refused to accept the doctor's pragmatic diagnosis, researched the disease herself and developed a personalised regime of treatment which gave her the quality of life she strived for.

At the end her mind was clear and razor sharp, her intellect was vibrant and alive. But the pain and suffering that Parkinson's had inflicted upon Shirley over two decades became too much for her to bear.

Shirley took up a new fight. A fight for the right to die with dignity, this was her final battle that she won and, in doing so, she wanted to help others, and this is why we are all here today.

As a family we were denied the comfort of being by Shirley's side at the end. We had to remain at a distance, knowing of her intention to commit suicide, to avoid being implicated by the law. We knew that she was going to suicide but not when. Shirley died courageously alone in her home, the family being informed of her death by telephone.I believe, as Shirley believed, that we are individuals making up a complex society with basic human rights to choose, this includes the right to choose when to die when the pain and suffering caused by disease becomes so great that life becomes intolerable. Shirley's last words to me were: "If I was horse in my condition they would shoot me!"