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I have been an advocate for health, environmental and economic justice throughout my professional career and, more recently, have focused on issues related to pesticides and our communities’ rights to protect the health of our children and families.

While my message today is a different one, it also relates to health, quality of life, and to having the right to be informed, to choose — compelling me to share my personal story.

I was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer in April 2016. Following surgery and months of chemotherapy infusions, my prognosis is not great: half the women with this type of breast cancer do not survive five years. In the event we do discover my cancer has metastasized to my brain, liver, or lungs, doctors have told me it’s incurable.

So now I’ve been engaging my legal team and my health team to partner with me on this journey.

I’m committed to living my life fully— because I love my partner, family and friends, and because I’m committed to contributing to my community as fully as possible, as long as possible.

I am just as committed to living my dying fully, whenever that time comes. I’m thankful to know today I have options of palliative care and hospice to discuss with my health team when I reach my end of life, being able to choose to relieve my pain and suffering in a compassionate way.

And, I strongly support Hawaii’s efforts to expand my legal options when I arrive at that point — to be able to discuss with my health team medical aid in dying.

Current medical research documents that one out of every two men and one out of three women will receive a cancer diagnosis at some point in our lives. These statistics are astounding! Yet, regardless of whether we discover we have cancer or not, we will all meet our end at some point.

The question is: will we all have access to a full menu of options for care at end of life so each of us will be able to choose the most appropriate option for our particular end of life circumstances?

Today’s trends in medicine prioritize patient-centered care where patients and their doctors work together in responsive, informed relationship to make decisions about treatment and care — ultimately, it’s all about a patient’s right to choose.

Here’s the definition of patient-centered care from the Institute of Medicine: “Providing care that is respectful of, and responsive to, individual patient preferences, needs, values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.”

In my cancer experience to date, this standard of care was sorely lacking. I’d like to ensure at the end of my life I have the choice for medical aid in dying rather than submitting myself to prolonged, aggressive medical treatment that extends my life unnaturally.

Hawaii has long been a national leader in policy related to health and compassionate care. Six states and Washington, D.C., have passed similar measures over the past 20 years.

I strongly urge your support of and related Senate bills as they make their way through the legislative process this session.

Thank you very much for your time and good energies to support these measures — Aloha plenty.