Australian bone marrow heroine Shirley Nolan, suicide
Posted: Monday, July 15th, 2002 10:26 pmShirley Nolan, who became world-famous for establishing an international bone marrow registry after losing her seven-year-old son to a rare disease 22 years ago, has committed suicide.
Incapacitated with Parkinson’s disease, Ms Nolan, 60, killed herself at home in Adelaide on Sunday night. She was alone.
A member of the South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Society, Ms Nolan wanted her death to be used to bolster the campaign for national euthanasia legislation.
“I hope today I can end the horror my life has become,” she wrote in a letter released the day after her death. “Here today, my last day, I am an advocate of death.”
In the late 1970s, Ms Nolan won massive international support for her tireless efforts to save her son Anthony’s life. The boy had been diagnosed with a rare and debilitating condition that left his immune system unable to fight infection. … Read full obituary
