The 47-year-old fought for years in Peruvian courts for the right to choose to die, and became a celebrity in the conservative country where euthanasia and assisted suicide are prohibited.

A Peruvian psychologist who had an incurable disease that left her bed ridden and requiring round-the-clock care for several years died by euthanasia, her lawyer and family said earlier this week, becoming the first person in the country to obtain the right to die with medical assistance.

After a long legal battle, Ana Estrada “died on her own terms, in accordance with her idea of ​​dignity and in full control of her autonomy until the end,” her family said in a statement shared Monday.

The 47-year-old fought for years in Peruvian courts for the right to choose to die, and became a celebrity in the conservative country where euthanasia and assisted suicide are prohibited.

In July 2022, Estrada was granted an exception by Peru’s Supreme Court, which upheld a 2021 ruling by a lower court that gave Estrada the right to decide when to end her life, and said that those who helped her would not be punished. Estrada became the first person in the country to obtain the right to die with medical assistance.

“Ana’s struggle for her right to die with dignity has helped to educate thousands of Peruvians about this right and the importance of defending it,” her lawyer Josefina Miró Quesada said in a statement Monday, adding: “Her struggle transcended our nation’s borders.”

Estrada suffered from polymyositis, a chronic and degenerative disease that affected her muscles, preventing her from speaking and leaving her bedridden. She was on a ventilator and needed nurses to care for her 24 hours a day.

She began to present the first symptoms as a teenager and started to use a wheelchair at the age of 20 because she had lost the strength to walk.

Estrada obtained a psychology degree and became a therapist. She earned enough money to buy her own apartment and became independent from her parents.

By 2017, however, her condition worsened and she could no longer get up from her bed. She had breathing difficulty and survived pneumonia. And even though she could not type, Estrada used transcription software to produce a blog called “Ana for a Death with Dignity,” where she discussed her struggles and her decision to seek euthanasia.

“I am no longer free,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press in 2018. “I am not the same person I was before.”

During a 2021 interview with CNN, Estrada said she wanted to “exercise my right to choose when, how, and where to die.”

By then, she had been going through a legal battle for about four years, initially on her own and later with the help of Peru’s Human Rights Ombudsman. From her bed, she participated in court sessions through video conferences.

Estrada told judges in 2022 that she valued life and did not want to die immediately, but wanted to have the freedom to decide when to end her life.

“I want to accede to euthanasia when I can no longer sustain suffering in life. And when I decide to bid farewell to my loved ones in peace and with tranquility,” she said.

“Ana’s legacy will live in the minds and hearts of many people and in the history of our country,” the family’s statement read.