Book Event
What: Book reading, "Wild and Precious Life" by Deborah Ziegler with Lacy Crawford
Where: Warwicks Books, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla
When: Wednesday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Brittany Maynard's story — of a young life ended too soon — captured the nation's attention in 2014. In California she helped change the way the state governs terminal illness.
At age 29, Maynard, who had incurable brain cancer, moved from California to Oregon so she could use that state's aid-in-dying law to end her life. After her death, the California legislature approved and Gov. Jerry Brown signed the End Of Life Option Act, which went into effect in June 2016.
Maynard's mother, Deborah Ziegler, who lives in Carlsbad, took part in the effort to get that law passed and signed.
In October, Ziegler's book, "Wild and Precious Life," (the title comes from a poem by Mary Oliver) about her daughter's life, illness and legacy was published by Simon and Schuster.
Maynard's husband, Dan Diaz, responded to the book in a Facebook post saying Maynard didn't want her mother to tell her story.
Diaz said Maynard told him, “I love my mother very much, but I don’t want her to be a storyteller about me. She’s been a great mom and I wouldn’t be here without her but I don’t want her to write about me. It is not her place to do so.”
In response, Ziegler said, "I think it's quite common in families that are thrust into an end that's traumatic and very emotionally upsetting for families to explode apart, fall apart, have differences of opinion."
Ziegler joins Midday Edition Tuesday to discuss her daughter's life and legacy.
