Cancer Patient Ends Her Life On Her Own

Brittany Maynard, 29 decided to end her life on her own thanks to Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act. She died peacefully on Saturday after deciding to take a fatal dose of barbiturates prescribed by her doctor when her pain became to much. Maynard made headlines when she went public with her plan to die on her own terms. 

Brittany was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma and was given only 6 months to live as of last spring. Maynard received a lot of positive feedback when her decision went public, but some people weren’t as supportive. Brittany commented to the criticism by saying “My glioblastoma is going to kill me and that’s out of my control, but being able to go with dignity is a lot less terrifying.”

Brittany Maynard has been communicating with fans about her condition through a personal website that she set up. She shared with people the reasons why she went public about her whole situation. She told everyone that she didn’t go public because she wanted attention, the reason she went public was to make people aware of the Death With Dignity act, because she wants to see a world where everyone has the choice that she had. She tells fans that that choice is what has made her journey through all of this easier.

Up until her very last days, Maynard was able to live her life to the very fullest. In late October, she and her family traveled up to the Grand Canyon to take one last family vacation together. Brittany did end up suffering from a seizure on the trip, but that didn’t stop her from sharing every detail with all of her fans. She became very vocal in telling each and every one of them her dream that every terminally ill person in America having the right to die with dignity and she encouraged all of her fans to help and make her dream a reality.

Brittany Maynard was an incredibly outstanding woman with hopes and dreams just like anyone else and unfortunately hers ended way to short. Her last weeks she spent so much time advocating for her purpose of having everyone able to choose to end their life if they want to and although she wasn’t able to accomplish that while she was living, it’s a dream of hers that all of her fans can help to make a reality for everyone in the future that wishes to make that choice.

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Another Duggar Wedding

As many of you know, the Duggars became known when they started their own TV show, 19 Kids and Counting about their life with 19, now 22 kids. Over the years, you’ve watched all 22 kids grow up and go through courtships and now 2 of the Duggars are engaged and married. Jill, 22 just got married to her husband Derick Dillard after a short courtship and they have just recently announced that they are expecting! Now, the time has come for Jessa Duggar, 21 to marry Ben Seewald, her boyfriend since September 2013. 

The Duggars have always had fairly strict courtship rules when it comes to dating. The couples have to CC both parents in every text that they send each other and they also must have a chaperone who is 10 years or older on each and every one of their dates, so that way it keeps the couples from getting to close when no one is looking. The girls also have to wear modest clothing because of their belief that their bodies are “special gifts” that should be saved “only for their husbands.”

On Saturday, November 1 Jessa Duggar officially became Mrs. Seewald! Four months after sister Jill got married, Jessa finally tied the knot. She and fiancee Ben surprised guests at their wedding by doing some things that are very untraditional. To start things off, instead of wearing the traditional white wedding gown, Jessa chose to wear a blush colored gown with crystals and pearls all over the bodice. The couple also chose to go pretty untraditional for their reception. Since Jessa isn’t the biggest fan of cake, the couple decided to serve ice cream sundaes that the guests could create their own with the multitude of toppings and different flavors of ice cream that they had to offer. 

Probably the most untraditional thing that the couple did at their wedding was when the pastor introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Seewald, Jessa and Ben chose not to have their first kiss at the altar in front of everyone. The pastor then went on to tell all the guests that the newlyweds had decided that they wanted to have their first kiss in a more private setting instead of in front all the guests. The pastor then asked Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar to come up and share a kiss in front of everyone instead. He then went on the say “There, now you’ve seen a Duggar kiss.” 

The guests did end up seeing the new couple kiss later on in the night. Jessa and Ben snuck off after the ceremony and before the reception to share their special first kiss and then showed all their guests through sneaking little kisses throughout the reception. All in all, it was a beautiful ceremony and the Duggar family are now down 2 members and have a new grandchild on the way!

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Bad Bachelor Track Record

It appears that Bachelor star Juan Pablo Galarvis and girlfriend Nikki Ferrell have officially called it quits after attempting to rekindle their relationship in Couples Therapy. That makes 22 failed relationships from the ABC hit TV show, The Bachelor. So why do they have such a bad track record when it comes to love? After all, it is a show that is aimed to help people find the love of their lives. 

Out of the 28 seasons of the Bachelor and the Bachelorette, only 6 couples have made it even after the cameras have stopped rolling and the season finales have aired. Some went on to get married and have children and others are planning their weddings at the moment, so be watching for that next Bachelor/Bachelorette live wedding!

Of that six, four are married and the other two are engaged. The very first couple to pull through, Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter got married in December of 2003 and now are married happily and have two children together. Jason Mesnick was a Bachelor and proposed to the winner of his season Melissa Rycroft but proceeded to break up with her on their After the Final Rose special, telling her that he fell back in love with his season’s runner up Molly Melaney, now Molly Mesnick as they got married and recently welcomed a baby girl, Riley. 

Other couples are Bachelorette Ashley Hebert who is now Ashley Rosenbaum. Ashley married finalist J.P. Rosenbaum and they now have a son Fordham Rosenbaum.  Season 18 Bachelor Sean Lowe, proposed to his bride to be Catherine Giudici and they wed on national television in a ABC live event. Desiree Hartstock who was sent home on Sean’s season became the next Bachelorette and is currently engaged to fiancee Chris Siegfried and Andi Dorfman, the most recent Bachelorette is now engaged to former baseball player Josh Murray.

So why out of 28 possible marriages did only 6 actually make it to their big day? I think that it’s easy to be in love and carry out that relationship when the cameras are rolling and it’s not out in the real world but when the filming ends and those couples are forced to adapt their relationship to reality, it makes it hard for them to make it work. It makes it especially hard to adapt when you become such a recognizable couple and the media is all over your relationship as if they’re just waiting for them to call it off so that they can be the first to report the breakup. 

I believe that the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are good shows that try to help people find love, but I also believe that it’s really not relatable for people. When people are taken out of the context of reality, it makes it so much easier for them to focus on each other and pursue the relationship, but when the show ends and they are thrown back into reality, that’s when you see many of the relationships die because they now have to face all of the difficulties that come with that the first half of their relationship didn’t have to deal with.

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