Brittany Maynard's Widower Made Her a Promise When She Ended Her Life. Ten Years Later, He's Still Keeping It (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Brittany Maynard and Dan Diaz.Photo:courtesy of Dan Diaz andTheBrittanyFund.org

courtesy of Dan Diaz andTheBrittanyFund.org

It’s been 10 years since Dan Diaz’s wife,Brittany Maynard, ended her life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, galvanizing a national debate aboutthe “right to die with dignity” movement.

In that decade, Diaz, 53, has beenmoving forward with their work together— now looking back, he sounds surprised at how fast the time has passed.

Maynard died at the age of 29 on Nov. 1, 2014, after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and sharing her story with the world.

Diaz says that she “pursued every treatment option that offered her any glimmer of hope”; after that, the other options came with “few benefits” but “horrible side effects.”

“My [cancer] is going to kill me, and it’s a terrible, terrible way to die. So to be able to die with my family with me, to have control of my own mind, which I would stand to lose — to go with dignity is less terrifying,” Maynard told PEOPLE at the time.

She and Diaz, however, had to first move from their Bay Area home to Oregon, one of the few states then providing legal access to medical aid in dying, in certain cases.

Diaz can still easily recall his late wife’s myriad doctor appointments and the day she had brain surgery, “navigating the chaos that cancer brings into your world,” he says.

And he is also choosing to remember the victories, small and large, that he’s had on the legislative front, helping others to attain their own “autonomy” while sick with terminal illness.

“We passed California just a year after Brittany died,” Diaz says, referring to the state’s End of Life Option Act. “Gov. Jerry Brown signed our legislation in California in October of 2015. And then after that, introducing our bill, we got to pass in Colorado and then D.C. and New Jersey — and Maine and New Mexico, Hawaii.”

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Dan Diaz.courtesy of Dan Diaz andTheBrittanyFund.org

“When I reflect on it, when I think about all the time, energy and effort that obviously not just me, but Compassion & Choices [the Colorado nonprofit Diaz works alongside] and all the volunteers and all the terminally ill individuals that show up, it’s like, ‘Yeah, of course it’s been 10 years,’ “ Diaz says. “I mean, look at all the stuff that we’ve worked on and accomplished.”

Even when he comes across people who live in states where similar legislation will likely never pass, Diaz has forged a connection through Maynard.

“There’s one guy from Texas and he remembers Brittany’s story, and he’s like, ‘Oh my God, I’m so supportive of this, and what do you think? When can we pass this in Texas?’ And I’m like, ‘Buddy, that’s not happening. I’m sorry, but that’s not happening,’ ” Diaz says.

He says the man’s options are not so dissimilar from the ones he and Maynard faced in 2014.

“He says, ‘I’m going to have to move to Oregon or California or some other state. I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s probably your reality.’ And he’s just upset at that,” Diaz says.

Since Maynard died, her widower and other advocates have worked to expand access to what they call end-of-life options: California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washingtonnow all allow itunder select circumstances.

Ten years on, Diaz pushes on.

“I miss her every day and I continue doing what I’m doing because this is the promise that I made to her, and for me, that is very important,” he says.

“They say that what you do for yourself is gone when you are gone. But what you do for other people, that is what lives on in your legacy," he says. “And so Brittany’s legacy is precisely that.”

source: people.com