THE mum of a 22-year-old woman who took her own life is appealing to a man who plans to travel to Switzerland for assisted suicide to reconsider his decision.

Anthony Hayes, 59, who has Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and says he was abused as a child, has told his family he wants to end his life – as reported on Thursday.

Liz de Oliveira’s daughter Lucy died in February 2017 and she has urged Mr Hayes, from Worcester, to re-think his decision to prevent those close to him suffering as she has.

“Having seen the impact my daughter’s death has had on literally hundreds of people – and believe me, Mr Hayes, yours will too – there is absolutely no way I could ever put others through the hell I go through every single minute of my day,” she said.

Lucy was studying to be a paediatric nurse at Liverpool John Moores University and her mum feels the stress of her course and working led her to take her own life.

The “bright and popular” student was juggling studying, 12-hour hospital placements and two jobs in a city “where she didn’t have a support network of family”.

However, Mrs de Oliveira, who raised her daughter and 27-year-old son Alex alone, said Lucy had a “strong character” and she had no idea she was struggling.

“If you are terminally ill, I absolutely understand it (assisted suicide). You are just bringing forward the suffering, but it’s inevitable,” said the 60-year-old mum, who has not returned to work as a barrister since Lucy’s death.

“If I could just speak to Mr Hayes for five minutes I think I could change his mind. It’s the fallout that he doesn’t appreciate. His family may be supporting him, but they don’t understand what they will go through once he’s died. They can’t understand – only people like me, who have been through it can understand.

“I don’t have a life anymore. There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about Lucy and it’s destroyed me.”

Mrs de Oliveira, of Kidderminster, suffers from fibromyalgia – chronic widespread pain – and has said mental illness must be discussed more openly like other conditions and disabilities.

“What’s really needed is much more treatment of mental health conditions and being able to speak up about them without being stigmatised.

“All of us will suffer from poor mental health at some point in our lives – it’s a very human condition. We need to be much more open about it.”

Father Brian McGinley, of St George’s Catholic Church, Worcester, in reference to Mr Hayes, has said the “shifting attitude” to euthanasia has meant human life in our society “is now under threat”.

“Euthanasia is worse than suicide, for it involves the intentional killing of someone else, albeit someone who may have asked to be killed,” he continued.

“Those who take someone else’s life take to themselves the power of life and death and decide that another person’s life is without value.

“If someone is suicidal, pushing him or her over the brink is not helping, it is harming,” he added.