Allison Bowman’s father Stephen died seven months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Allison says a voluntary assisted death would have brought him the control and peace he wanted in the midst of a terrible situation.

Phil Browne is a registered nurse, palliative care worker and paramedic. Over 40 years, he provided end-of-life care to about 2,000 Queensland patients, witnessing what he calls intolerable suffering. 

"She said, ‘We don’t let animals suffer like this’ and she begged my eldest brother to shoot her. It devastated the family. We felt like failures, that we couldn't do anything to help her."

My sister Gay suffered the most awful, unimaginable and intolerable pain. Her death was grotesque and a reminder that as a civilised society we have to do better. 

Dying from cancer and emphysema, Ian Thau's father kept crying, ‘Please take me’, clearly wanting his life to end, to be out of pain, but with no legal way to achieve his wish.

Lydia*, a nurse of more than 30 years, has watched as countless people die. She is urging Queensland legislators to “listen to the pleas of everyday people”, so terminally ill people have a legal option to end their suffering.

Vicky Crichton says she was broken, listening to the pleas of her mother Brenda to ‘help’ her die in the last five months of her life. Vicky has vowed to fight with everything she has to see voluntary assisted dying laws enacted in Queensland.

Damon Spina was 39 when he was delivered the harrowing news that he wouldn't see his next birthday: He had cancer in his brain, which spread to his lungs and lymph nodes.

In her 20s, Michelle Reid lost both her parents within five months of each other. Now living in Brisbane, she hopes her parents' stories will persuade Queensland MPs to provide end-of-life-choice for other people.

Suffering intolerably with rapidly progressing motor neurone disease (MND) Queenslander John Ancliffe wants MPs to consult with terminally ill people before voting on the Voluntary Assisted Dying bill. "Please don’t sentence me to suffer needlessly against my wishes."