Marieke Vervoort, 37, suffers from an incurable, degenerative spinal disease that has left her confined to a wheelchair. This was her last Paralympics, she confirmed, making her Rio achievement bitter-sweet.
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She signed euthanasia papers in her native Belgium, where assisted death is legal, in 2008.
“I think there is a great mistake about what the press told in Belgium”, Vervoort said Sunday, speaking in English and surrounded by reporters wanting to hear her compelling story.
She said she was “still enjoying every little moment”.
But despite the condition she has become one of the world’s leading Paralympians, winning medals at the London Paralympics in 2012 and on Saturday night she won silver in the T52 400 meters in Rio.
“If I didn’t have those papers, I think I would already have [committed] suicide, because it’s very hard to live with so much pain and suffering”.
Vervoort described training and racing as “like a medicine for me”, adding: “I push so hard, to push all my fear, all my anger, everything away”.
Vervoort finished second in the women’s 400m T52 on Saturday and after the race she denied she would take her life as soon as the Paralympics were finished.
Still considering euthanasia to escape a life of relentless pain but says she’s “not there yet”.
“You need three different signatures from doctors and to talk with a psychiatrist to see if it is really what you want”. I’m really strong in my mind, even when I sleep only 10 minutes, it’s possible that I’m still training at 11 o’clock in the morning.
Euthanasia is now legal in Belgium, the Netherlands, Colombia, India, Luxembourg and Mexico. Why me? Why does this have to happen to me?
“I signed mine in 2008”.
“Everybody sees me laughing and happy with my medals”. I feel now good, but in half an hour it can be that I’m suffering a lot. I live with a good feeling.
“I want to inspire people that they have to live day by day and enjoy every little moment”.
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“When I was a child, I was sitting just for a picture in an F16 and I really want to fly with someone in an F16”, she said.
