“I scream because only now do I realize you fail to understand that I, like many others, can no longer even sit upright—I need custom tilt wheelchairs,” writes Martina Oppelli in a searing op-ed published by Il Piccolo. The Trieste woman, who advocates for legalized assisted suicide, details her reliance on caregivers for basic needs: a friend temporarily assists her “with great effort, handing me a straw-equipped glass to drink,” while complex bodily functions remain impossible without aid. Penned using voice commands and signed “An Incurable (Once Martina Oppelli),” the article responds to a letter titled “Martina, Walk With Us”—an invitation to a Medjugorje pilgrimage she rejects due to debilitating pain from advanced sclerosis.
“Electric shock-like spasms stiffen my body, frightening healthy pilgrims,” Oppelli recounts of past Lourdes journeys, noting that even traveling to Cattinara Hospital “shakes all pains into one immense, singular agony.” While thanking Trieste authorities for “high-level care” and public subsidies enabling “dignified living,” she condemns societal failures: “I scream because none of you—except the Coscioni Association—fights for airlines to install wheelchair-secured seats, sparing us torturous transfers.” Confined to her city “jobless and without hope of recovery,” Oppelli highlights repeated denials of assisted suicide by Italian health authorities—a stark contrast to neighboring Slovenia, where lawmakers approved the practice just yesterday.
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