2.12.2013

Terminally ill woman who battled with her family over life support dies at 28

Just heard this sad news out of New York... Grace Sung Eun Lee, the terminally ill cancer patient who clashed with her devoutly religious parents last year in a legal battle over her right to die, only to later change her mind, died over the weekend. She was 28: Ill Woman, Kept Alive by Family, Dies at 28.

Lee, who was paralyzed from the neck down by a brainstem tumor and unable to breathe on her own, had moved back home to parents' home in Queens with a life support system. She passed away Sunday night after her ventilator reportedly stopped working properly:

Ms. Lee was unconscious for the last week of her life, her brother said. About 5 p.m. Sunday, he recalled, "she couldn't breathe, which doesn't really make sense because the machine was breathing for her." He said she died at a hospital about an hour later, surrounded by her parents, him and her other brother, Danny. Members of her father's church, Antioch Missionary Church in Flushing, Queens, arrived soon after to pray for her. Her funeral will be held at 8 p.m. Thursday at the church.
Rest in peace, Ms. Lee. More here: Breathing tube stops, killing 28-year-old Grace Lee following family's legal battle over her right to die.

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