Nagui’s Choice—and how his partner found the strength to support him

"I've taken mindfulness meditation, which has helped me more than I can say, to stay in the moment." 

Nagui Morcos was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 1995. Having experienced caring for his ailing father, who also had Huntington’s, with his two brothers, he made a decision long ago to hasten his death rather than suffer and be a burden in the later stages of his disease.

But this decision didn’t only affect him. His partner Jan Crowley, though supportive of his right to die, says she could barely make it through the day once Morcos had made the decision to, at some point, end his life. But then something changed for Crowley.

The couple was featured in “Nagui’s Choice,” two CBC  Radio White Coat, Black Art interviews with Dr. Brian Goldman.

During one interview, Crowley says that initially, she felt a lot of anxiety and dread, just waiting to hear that her husband had killed himself. But she says a year later, with the help of therapy, a leave from work and mindfulness meditation, she came to a better place.

“I’ve taken mindfulness meditation, which has helped me more than I can say, to stay in the moment,” she said.

Morcos took his life on April 22, 2012, six weeks after the final podcast aired.

Click here to listen to the podcasts. And for more information about the right to die, read “Shoot Me, Please”: The Right to Die by Stan Goldberg.