They must have been the hardest words any mother could ever have to imagine about her child.

But devoted Charlotte Fitzmaurice bravely wrote them down and handed them to a High Court judge to win for 12-year-old daughter Nancy what she believed she needed most.
To put an end to her suffering – and finally to be at peace.
Nancy was born blind with hydrocephalus, meningitis and septicaemia. It meant she could not walk, talk eat or drinker quality of life was so poor she needed 24-hour hospital care and was fed, watered and medicated by tube.
As her health deteriorated, she spent hours screaming in agony despite the morphine and ketamine she was given.
For Charlotte too, the pain of seeing her daughter suffering like this was too much to bear.
So after 12 heartbreaking years, she went to court to fight for Nancy’s right to die.
Her moving 324-word statement was read out by Justice Eleanor King in August.
Giving the reasons why Nancy should be allowed to die, Charlotte said: “My daughter is no longer my daughter, she is now merely just a shell.