A SMALL inheritance from her father's estate is all that stands between Loredana Alessio-Mulhall and despair.

Within a year, the 61-year-old, who suffers from rapidly deteriorating multiple sclerosis, expects to spend the money on a plane fare to the Netherlands, where she will be able to seek euthanasia provided legally by medical practitioners.

Hope set on Holland ... Loredana Alessio-Mulhall, 61. Credit:Jacky Ghossein

''With MS there are so many losses,'' said Ms Alessio-Mulhall, who is in escalating pain from nerve damage. ''I cannot move. I cannot write. I badly miss being able to read. I can't move my chair any more … I love gardening but I'm getting to the stage where I'm losing interest, and that upsets me. It takes a lot of courage to stay on top of it, and I've reached the end of mine.''

If she could opt legally to end her life in NSW, and was not forced to choose a moment while she was still well enough to travel, the Italian-born former teacher of English, who loves Chaucer, Shakespeare and Pirandello, would be more at ease.