Brittany Maynard has made her choice. Yesterday, she died with dignity.

Update:

Brittany Maynard’s husband has spoken out about his beautiful wife, 29, who took her life on Sunday after battling terminal brain cancer.

Dan Diaz, 43, was holding Ms Maynard in his arms when she chose to die with dignity by taking a lethal dose of prescribed drugs in her Portland, Oregon, home at the weekend.

Mr Diaz told PEOPLE he first met Ms Maynard in 2007 and thought she looked gorgeous — but soon learned “what a beautiful person she was on the inside”.

“She’s just a great person to know; a good person to be around: attractive, energetic and outgoing and just a personality you really get attracted to,”  he said in October, in an interview that has just been published.

“Jokingly, she would say I’d certainly been single long enough because there was an age difference between us,” he told the magazine. “And ‘What’s taken me so long?’ and my answer was, honestly, that I hadn’t met the girl for me until Brittany.”

Brittany Maynard’s mother has also spoken out about her beautiful daughter, who chose to die with dignity on Saturday after battling a terminal illness.

“She was a smart, pretty and charismatic little girl, so she asked to do a lot of things and she generally excelled at all of them,” Debbie Ziegler, 56, told People in an exclusive interview last month.

“I can remember her doing cartwheels and my telling her, ‘I could never do cartwheels,’ but she just worked and worked and worked until she perfected it,” she said of Ms Maynard, 29.

“Everything she tried I would say, ‘I wouldn’t do well with this,’ but that didn’t stop her,” Ms Ziegler said.

“If she took ice skating, she’d excel at ice skating,” she said.

Ms Ziegler told People her daughter was a straight “A” student throughout high school and was devastated to receive her first “B” grade at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I said, ‘I am sending you money,’ ” says Ziegler. “And she’s like, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘I want you to take your girlfriend out to dinner and toast imperfection’.

“I almost wanted to give her accolades to know that we are all imperfect, and that’s okay.”

Previously, Mamamia wrote:

Terminally ill woman Brittany Maynard has passed away.

The 29-year-old US woman ended her own life on Saturday at her home in Portland, Oregon, People reports.

“Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more,” she wrote in a post Facebook, according to People.

“The world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers. I even have a ring of support around my bed as I type …

“Goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!

Maynard was diagnosed with grade II astrocytoma in January, and just 70 days after receiving surgery, her prognosis dramatically worsened.

Doctors told her she had six months to live, People reports, and studies have shown that regardless of treatment, few patients survive beyond three years with the condition. With few options in her home state of California, Maynard and her family moved to Oregon, one of five states in the US that has “death with dignity” laws.

These laws mean that terminally ill and mentally competent adult patients who qualify can be prescribed life-ending medication that is quick and painless, if they choose to take it.

Maynard  made international headlines when she launched an online video campaign with end-of-life choice advicacy organisation Compassion & Choices, and announced she intended to die by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates when her suffering became too great.

The brave woman spent her last months travelling the country to tick off a “bucket list” that included a trip to Yellowstone National Park, Olympic National Park and the Grand Canyon.

“The reason to consider life and what’s of value is to make sure you’re not missing out. Seize the day,” Maynard said in a video that went viral earlier this year.

“What’s important to you, what do you care about, what matters – pursue that, forget the rest.”

Our thoughts are with Brittany Maynard’s family and friends.

To find out more about Brittany, go to The Brittany Maynard Fund here.

If you or anyone you know needs help seek out Beyond Blue or call Lifeline on 131 114.