Omar and Cissy Dekker never gave up hope during the nearly four years their only child, Iris, spent on the waiting list for euthanasia in the Netherlands.
Iris was just 13 when she developed severe depression and functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition that caused chronic headaches and, following a seizure, left her unable to walk for two years.
After two suicide attempts, repeated hospitalisations and years of relentless mental anguish that left her with ‘no feelings’, Iris made the firm decision that she wanted to die through the country’s legal euthanasia process.
But after years of waiting and a succession of treatments
To provide well-rounded coverage and a breadth of insight across various events, we rely on contributions from several staff writers, each bringing their own area of expertise to our publication.
