One Last Goodbye: Sometimes only a mother's love can help end the pain

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Watching her child die is the hardest thing a mother can ever do, but for Kay Gilderdale, saying a final goodbye to her only daughter Lynn was exceptionally painful: she'd played a part in her death. Lynn was just 14 when she was struck down by the crippling disease ME, leaving her paralyzed and in constant agony. Over the next 17 years, she became desperate to escape her miserable existence, even begging her mother to help her die. So, one night, when Kay found Lynn attempting suicide, she was forced to make an impossible decision. Continue watching her child suffer or help her end the pain? Eventually, fighting her every instinct, Kay helped her precious daughter take a fatal overdose. But while Lynn was finally free, her mother faced a fresh agony—a possible lifetime behind bars. The highly controversial trial that followed opened a fierce public debate on assisted suicide. Is it murder or mercy? Here, in her heartbreaking story, Kay reveals the harrowing truth behind the headlines and the desperate lengths a mother will go to for the love of a child.

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Kay Gilderdale was born in Dublin in 1954. The youngest of 10, all she'd ever wanted was a family of her own. After leaving school, she trained as a nurse and went on to have two much-longed-for children, Stephen and Lynn, with her then husband Richard. Kay now lives alone in East Sussex and is a proud grandmother of two. Kay is a dedicated supporter of The 25% ME Group. The charity exists to support those who have the most severe forms of ME and the people who care for them.