Thursday, December 13, 2012

(off-topic) Death with Dignity Supporters Hope for a New Bid

By Vitalii Moroz


It is snowing for the first time this winter in Braintree. Paul Gunn is driving his car to the train station, and we talk about his grandchildren and how much he and his wife love them. Suddenly, he pauses and exclaims, “My wife says can you shut up when I start speaking!”  

I glance at my watch. We have met to talk three and a half hours ago. Our interview was not sad, as I had expected before the meeting. Paul Gunn, a 59-year-old Braintree resident and supporter of the Death with Dignity Initiative, keeps himself optimistic even while telling the story of his father, a terminally ill patient who died several years ago. But his father was not the only person who faced a serious illness in his family.    

“My wife has almost died twice now,” says Gunn. He met his second wife, Carol Cornetta, through the Internet at the end of the ‘90s. In 2000 they married, but soon the family faced health issues.