Belgian Woman Euthanized After Botched Sex Change Operation, Mother Says Good Riddance, She Was 'So Ugly' Anyway
A Belgian woman who felt rejected by her family as a woman was legally euthanized on Monday after a botched sex change operation left her with "unbearable psychological suffering," and her mother says she is happy she is gone because she was "so ugly" anyway.
The woman born Nancy Verhelst, 44, according to The Telegraph, had tried to become Nathan after undergoing hormone therapy in 2009 followed by a mastectomy and the surgical construction of a penis in 2012. Unfortunately, "none of these operations worked as desired".
Due to the unbearable trauma that followed her disappointing quest for happiness, Verhelst opted to be euthanized by cancer specialist Wim Distelmans who euthanized congenitally deaf twins late last year who were afraid they were also going blind.
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"I was the girl that nobody wanted," Verhelst reportedly told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper during her final hours. "While my brothers were celebrated, I got a storage room above the garage as a bedroom. 'If only you had been a boy', my mother complained. I was tolerated, nothing more," she said.
Verhelst explained that she was crushed when she realized the operations did not make her the man she wanted to be.
"I was ready to celebrate my new birth," Verhelst told the newspaper. "But when I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster. "
On Wednesday, Verhelst's unnamed mother confirmed in a report, that her daughter was a rejected child and that she had yet to read a letter her daughter had sent her explaining why she chose to die.
"When I saw 'Nancy' for the first time, my dream was shattered. She was so ugly. I had a phantom birth. Her death does not bother me," Verhelst's mother said in the report. "I will definitely read it [her letter] but it will be full of lies. For me, this chapter is closed. Her death does not bother me. I feel no sorrow, no doubt or remorse. We never had a bond."
"The choice of Nathan [Nancy] Verhelst has nothing to do with fatigue of life," noted Dr. Distelmans on his patient's decision to die. "There are other factors that meant he was in a situation with incurable, unbearable suffering. Unbearable suffering for euthanasia can be both physical and psychological. This was a case that clearly met the conditions demanded by the law. Nathan underwent counseling for six months."
Belgium recorded 1,432 cases of euthanasia in 2012, an increase of 25 percent over the previous year. That country is currently deciding whether to extend "mercy killing" legislation to children.
