Epic walk for a great cause

Last week a woman on a mission walked through Harvey and Waroona on an epic journey from Melbourne to Perth.

Belinda Teh is taking the final steps of the 4500km journey to Parliament House today, hoping her walk will bring about changes to voluntary assisted dying laws.

Ms Teh’s mother Mareia died of breast cancer in 2016.

“I want WA to introduce a voluntary assisted dying law so that no other Western Australian with a terminal illness has to die the way my mum did,” she said.

“She died in agony. It was preventable and unnecessary and the opposite of what she wanted.”

Ms Teh began her walk in Melbourne because Victoria is the only State in Australia where voluntary assisted dying is legal.

“Walking from Melbourne to Perth symbolises for me the way our journey to life’s end should be – long and arduous, sometimes painful, yes, but supported all the way by empathetic, loving people who reflect on what it might be like to walk in the shoes of others,” Ms Teh said.

“Everyone is welcome to join me for the final kilometre from Kings Park to Parliament House.”

Details of Ms Teh’s final stretch can be found on her Facebook page, as well as information about the Rally for Choice on September 3 on the steps of Parliament House.

“My walk to Parliament House and the rally are examples of public displays of support for voluntary assisted dying that I wish had been around when my mum died in 2016,” Ms Teh said.

“I felt so alone. It would have been a huge comfort to be able to attend something like these events and see that there are so many others in our community who understand what it’s like to go through the trauma of watching a loved one die badly.”