Having watched my wife die on April 8th, after an 18-month battle with lung cancer, I would like to make the strongest plea for the legalisation of euthanasia in this country.

I am aware that, at the moment, it is illegal to assist in someone's death. The law is very clear on this. However, I believe I am in a position to inform the makers of this law just what it means to the terminally-ill and to their families.

The ordeal began with the diagnosis, sitting numb with shock as the doctor broke the news that my wife, who was 61, had lung cancer.

The side effects of radiotherapy are harsh. Vi had only two months of remission - and a return to almost-normal health - but then the pain came back. No more treatment could be given.

This is the point when a person should be allowed to take responsibility for his or her own life.

As the pain becomes stronger, so the drugs are increased. The results are fragmented memory, hallucinations and involuntary convulsions of the limbs. This, plus the lack of appetite and the subsequent loss of body weight, the despair felt by the sufferer -all combine to create a situation where death would not only be a relief, but welcomed.

I cared for my wife throughout this time. I fed and washed her, helped her to the bathroom and held her as she was sick throughout the day, and cleaned her afterwards.

I lay beside her at night and tried to hold her as the drug-induced spasms would shake her entire body. I watched over her during the long hours of silence in the day, as she lay in bed, moving only when the pain made her seek a fresh position to attempt to relieve it.

The worst was when she asked me to help her die. When you are young, death never enters your world.

You know that some time, a long way off in the future, it will have to be faced - but there is so much living to do before that comes.

When Vi asked me to release her, I could not.

Let me be clear on this. Had I been able to, I would. The threat of the law did not concern me. I simply did not know how to do it and the thought that I might increase her suffering rendered me helpless.

I asked the medical people attending her why she could not be helped to die.

They could not do this. They are bound by the law.

At this point, I must state my respect and gratitude to all the people that attended Vi - and I understand that they all have their own private feelings on the subject of euthanasia.

However, when you have lived with and loved a person for 44 years; someone that embraced all the seasons of life, who painted, created beautiful gardens, loved music and films; who took such pleasure in travel, or simply walking in the meadows with her dog, and who had passion for all the things that make a full and rewarding life; when you have to stand by and watch this warm and vital human being degrade away, then you wonder who it is that has the power to condemn a person to this agony.

I fully understand that there are other aspects to consider in legalising euthanasia.

But surely it is not beyond the people that make laws to ensure that a person suffering a terminal illness can have their suffering brought to an end?

If those who have the power to change this law have listened to my story, then I hope they will see that the law is cruel, barbaric and inhumane.

It must be changed...for the sake of the sufferer and their family.