She’s Trying to Stay Ahead of Alzheimer’s, in a Race to the Death

Soon, Eileen Mekel has to choose the day she dies.

She’s not in a hurry. She loves her life very much in Trim’s airy home in Castrikam, a Dutch village by the sea. She grows flowers in her backyard and nearby is a street market where vendors welcome villagers by their name. But if her life ends the way she wants, she must choose the date earlier than she wants.

“It’s a tragedy,” she said.

Mekel, 82, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I was diagnosed a year ago. She knows her cognitive function is slowly decreasing, and she knows what’s coming. She worked as a nurse for years and cared for her sister with vascular dementia. For now, with the help of three children, she manages remotely to remind her of dates and reservations from a large screen in the corner of her living room.

In a not too distant future, it is no longer safe for her to be home alone. She had a bad fall and broke her elbow in August. She doesn’t feel like she can live with a busy child with her career or her children. She is determined that she will never move to a nursing home, and considers the unbearable loss of dignity. As a Dutch citizen, she is entitled to demand that doctors help her end her life when she reaches a point of unbearable suffering by law. And she applied for a medically supported death.

In 2023, shortly before her diagnosis, Mekel attended a workshop hosted by the Netherlands Association for Voluntary Apocalyptic Ends. There, she learned how to draft a pre-request document that laid out her wishes, including conditions requiring what is called Dutch euthanasia. She decided that it would be when she recognises her children and grandchildren, has conversations, and lives in her own home.

However, when Mekel’s family doctor read the pre-order, she said she couldn’t provide it while she was in support of euthanasia. She, by definition, does not do it for those who have lost their ability to consent.