MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE MUM ON DESIRE TO SHIELD CHILDREN

A REMARKABLE mum has just weeks to live after making the heart-breaking decision to starve herself to death when her daughter's exams have finished.

- BY LUCY THORNTON

Emma Bray, 42, who has motor neurone disease, plans to move into a hospice this summer and voluntarily stop eating and drinking.

The former charity worker has helped hundreds of domestic abuse victims and homeless people during her career.

Now she is determined to shield her children, aged 15 and 14, from the "brutal" death she is facing.

Emma told how she can no longer even comfort them with the "hugs they crave".

When she was given the bleak diagnosis two years ago, she was left "howling like an animal" because she realised the impact it would have on her son and daughter.

EULOGY

"I've had four different health professionals tell me I've got the worst disease possible," she told us.

MND is a terminal neurological condition that affects the brain and spinal cord leading to muscle weakness and wasting.

Emma has already had an "end of life party" and gone on a bucket list holiday to the Maldives.

And she has decided the time has nearly come to do her "last bit of parenting" and spare them the horror of seeing their mum choke to death.

Instead she wants a calm and peaceful death and has planned her funeral and written her eulogy.

Talking to us through her eye-gazing machine, she said: "I now feel I am at the stage where my quality of life is very affected. I can no longer use any of my limbs.

"My talking is severely affected and I struggle to eat and it's getting harder to breathe.

"I am only really comfortable in bed and social visits are exhausting.

"I have carers multiple times a day, can't be left alone overnight and can no longer do any basic tasks.

"I can't scratch an itch, push up my glasses, move a bed sheet if I am too hot or too cold.

TEARS

"I feel like I am losing the essence of me. I am still so loved but I can't be myself and I see that grief on everyone's faces.