Article content

Most of us wonder, every once in a while, when we might die.

Noreen Campbell knew it would be Thursday and it was.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Terminally ill Vancouver Island woman thanks Canada for a peaceful death Back to video

On Monday, she walked from her kitchen into her sun room, which looks onto a rural North Saanich property.

“I’ll go in here,” she said, sitting down in an overstuffed, beige leather chair. Her daughters, Mary and Jane, would be at either side, she said, and her husband, Cliff, would be there, too.

Campbell, 71, could still walk, talk and form coherent thoughts. She wasn’t bound to a hospital bed or so far gone that her family had to wonder about her level of consciousness. But as a registered nurse for 53 years, she had watched many people suffer in their final days and said she had reached her threshold.

“Some people might think I’m too capable, but why should you wait until you have to roll me in?” Campbell said.

“I’m ready.”

Campbell was among the first to receive approval for medical assistance in dying. That was in August, two months after landmark legislation was enacted to allow the procedure in Canada.