August 4, 2026

I’m 84, and I’ve survived Merkel Cell Carcinoma (the highly aggressive and extremely rare skin cancer that killed Jimmy Buffett) for seven years. We have great healthcare systems in Ohio and I’m fortunate enough to have benefited from a series of immunotherapy drugs, one of which is working right now, plus surgery and radiation.

All the same, it has been made clear to me from the start that the cancer eventually will mutate and no longer be treatable.

When that happens, I would very much like to be able to die at the time, in the place and with the people I might choose. Medical aid in dying would allow me to do that.

My dad had, frankly, a horrible death and that is part of why I want the option of MAID. Those of us who loved him watched as his Stage IV colon cancer left him moaning in pain and vomiting copious amounts of blood as he died.

No one’s life should end that way. With MAID, I could be confident that my death would be peaceful.

To Ohio End of Life Options supporters: If my story resonates with you, I’m asking you to do two things:

• Contact a member of the Ohio House Health Committee and add your name to those asking for a public hearing on HB 835. If you live in a committee member’s district your opinion carries special weight. (See below how to look up your district.) It’s easy to use this email generator link, or write your own message, as I did, and email to: OHRHealthCommittee@ohiohouse.gov
• Contact Molly McMahon Graziano (mollymg@ohiooptions.org) to share your own story, to help build a group of Ohioans truly invested in passing a MAID law.

You can help give me, or yourself, or someone you love, the option to use medical aid in dying in Ohio.

                                                                                                                                                                  — Dave Noble