![\"Wendy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777206253_266_0_Wendy-Duffy.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWendy Duffy decided to take her own life after her son tragically choked to death.<\/p>\n
Wendy Duffy’s death has been announced.(Image: Facebook)<\/p>\n
A woman<\/a> who took her own life at a controversial Swiss clinic<\/a> had not told her mum of her plans for an assisted suicide beforehand. Her 87-year-old mum, who suffers from dementia<\/a>, is believed to have been unaware of her daughter\u2019s plans to travel overseas and end her life.<\/p>\n Wendy Duffy, 56, a healthy mum whose only child Marcus<\/a> died four years ago, tragically ended her life at the Pegasos Clinic today. Her detailed plan<\/a> had been a year in the making, paying \u00a310,000 to the Pegasos clinic, writing letters to loved ones, choosing a deathbed outfit and picking the music which was the last thing she will hear, reports the Mirror.<\/a><\/p>\n News of Wendy’s death emerged as the Assisted Dying Bill<\/a> officially ran out of time on Friday. The House of Lords had raised more than 1,200 amendments<\/a> to delay the historic bill from being approved by MPs last June.<\/p>\n Online strangers who heard about her plans had pleaded with Wendy<\/a> to change her mind in direct messages and posts on Facebook<\/a>. But her family explained \u201cnothing was going to stop her\u201d and she \u201cwas determined and strong-minded\u2019. They said she could no longer live with the loss of her only child: \u201cIt it something she wanted and we couldn\u2019t stop her.\u201d<\/p>\n Her sister-in-law Paula Duffy said: \u201cIt is very sad for the whole family, very upsetting.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy made the decision that she could not live without her only child Marcus<\/p>\n Speaking shortly before Pegasos<\/a> announced her passing, Paula said: \u201cIt is something she wanted to do and we couldn\u2019t stop her. She never got back to herself after the death of her son and she didn\u2019t want to carry on. She was very strong willed and if she has something on her mind no one could change it.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy from the West Midlands travelled to the clinic<\/a> alone and died peacefully this morning wearing one of son Marcus\u2019 T-shirts because, she said, ‘it still smells of him\u2019 – and listening to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars song Die With A Smile.<\/p>\n Wendy had told her two brothers and four sisters about her assisted dying<\/a> but not her mum. Her brother Stephen last saw her a month ago, told how their widowed 87-year-old mother remained unaware.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cHer mum has dementia, she still lives at home but Wendy didn\u2019t want to tell her. She is not aware.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy,<\/a> who had split from her son’s dad, is believed to have visited her mum to say a final goodbye before travelling to Switzerland<\/a>. Her dad has passed away. Before he death she was in good health and considered sound of mind before she died.<\/p>\n Wendy Duffy travelled to the Pegasos Clinic with the intention of killing herself(Image: Pegasos)<\/p>\n In an interview with the Daily Mail this week she said the decision to take her own life<\/a> had been a ‘happy’ one because her ‘spirit can be free\u2019.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cIt will be hard for everyone. But I want to die. I’ll have a smile on my face when I do, so please be happy for me. My life, my choice.\u2019<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI wish this was available in the UK, then I wouldn’t have to go to Switzerland at all.’<\/p>\n Wendy lost her only child, Marcus, 23 in tragic circumstances four years ago after he choked on a tomato that had become lodged in his windpipe while eating a sandwich, starving his brain of oxygen.<\/a><\/p>\n Marcus’s death, together with the fact that Wendy<\/a> tried to perform CPR on him herself, has haunted her ever since. She said she has already tried to take her own life. Wendy said her \u2018beautiful boy\u2019 would have understood her decision to finally join him.<\/p>\n In poignant social media<\/a> posts she wrote about her love for Marcus whom she described as \u2018the best\u2019 and who \u2018lived life with zest.\u2019 In one she penned: \u2018I know we\u2019ll be reunited on a future day.\u2019<\/p>\n Sister-in-law Paula said the wait to find out if the suicide<\/a> had gone ahead was \u2018agonising\u2019 for the family, particularly her husband who was \u2018very close\u2019 to his sister and was too upset to speak. She said: \u201cIt is really raw, and just so very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy’s ashes are due to be flown back to the UK and scattered at a memorial bench<\/a> for her son.<\/p>\n Paula said Wendy had gone to Switzerland<\/a> alone. She said: \u201cI haven\u2019t got a clue where she got the \u00a310,000 from but she was always very resourceful.\u2019<\/p>\n She declined to say if she and the family believed in the right of a healthy person<\/a> to choose the right to die, only saying: \u201cI believe in assisted dying if there is a terminal illness.\u201d<\/p>\n She reiterated: \u201cWendy was not herself after Marcus passed. She was the same. May she rest in peace.\u2019”<\/p>\n Ruedi Habegger, Pegasos founder<\/a>, said: \u201cI can confirm that Wendy Duffy, at her own request, was assisted to die on April 24 and that the procedure was completed without incident and in full compliance with her wishes.<\/p>\n \u201cI can also confirm that neither we nor any of the professional staff assessing her mental capacity had any doubt as to her intention, understanding and independence of both thought and action. In historical terms at English law, hers was a case of “sane suicide\u201d.’<\/p>\n Wendy did not inform her family of the timescale<\/a> for her travel and procedure for their own protection – if anyone travelled with her, or assisted her suicide in any way, they would risk police investigation and possible prosecution in the UK.<\/p>\n Wendy told on her own Facebook<\/a> how she would spend most days visiting her son\u2019s bench in a local park.<\/p>\n She described the day he died as \u201ctruly awful\u201d and explained how she felt \u201chelpless\u201d.<\/p>\n In a poem she said: \u201cAttempts were made to keep you, but that was not meant to be, so I had to sit by, until you were taken from me. It’s been a painful struggle, getting through each day, trying to keep busy, in every single way.<\/p>\n \u201cI now know you’re still near me, I talk to you each night, you send me some lovely memories, even tho you’re out of sight. I kiss your bench each morning, when walking up the park, the birds will come and join me, even tho it’s still dark. \u201c<\/p>\n She ends saying: \u201cLove you Markie my baby, love you Markie my son, one day we’ll be reunited, and continue laughing and having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Wendy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777206254_773_0_Marcus-Duffy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Pegasos](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777206254_277_0_SDC_MDG_-_24349JPG.jpg\")
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