Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen, from the Netherlands, died side by side in early June (Picture: Facebook / Google Maps)
A couple – who had spent their lives together since childhood, after meeting in kindergarten – died together, ending their lives by lethal injection.
Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen, from the Netherlands, were married for almost 50 years. They had a son together. As a young couple they lived on a houseboat, then moving into a campervan in the later years.
But the 70 and 71-year-old chose to leave this life the same way they had spent the past decades – together.
The couple died in early June, in what is the latest case of duo-euthanasia in the country.
Jan and Els were surrounded by friends and family in the hours before their death.
Their son, who did not wish to be named, found his parents’ decision hard to take.
His father said of his reaction: ‘You do not want to let your parents die… So there have been tears. Our son said, “Better times will come, better weather”- but not for me.’
Jan had surgery on his back in 2003, but it did not improve. He had halted a heavy regime of pain killers and could no longer work.
Meanwhile, his wife, Els, was diagnosed with dementia and in the later years, she struggled to formulate her sentences.
Before their death, he told the BBC: ‘If you take a lot of medicine, you live like a zombie.
‘So, with the pain I have, and Els’ illness, I think we have to stop this.’
Jan added: ‘I have lived my life, I do not want pain anymore. The life we have lived, we are getting old [for it]. We think it has to be stopped.’
In 2018, his wife was showing early signs of dementia but resisted seeing a doctor, perhaps because she had witnessed the decline and death of her father who had Alzheimer’s.
But there came a point when her symptoms could not be ignored, and they began to discuss duo-euthanasia.
Els added before their planned death: ‘There is no other solution.’
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