Dad’s heartbreaking transformation

But the Sydney yoga instructor knew the man he loved, hooked up to drugs and machines for months in hospital, was far from it.

Mr Levanael said his dad Barry, 77, was “drugged out of his mind” for weeks before his slow and painful death in April, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour just months earlier in January.

The father-of-one has written heartbreaking accounts of his dad’s final weeks and the agony his family went through.

“This maintenance of a dying man, breathing but not alive; the brutal, unnecessary medicating of his body and, from what I could tell, the confusion and terrifying hallucinations wreaking havoc on his identity,” he wrote on his blog.

“The toxins, the treatment, the cancer and the whole experience (that is akin to animal abuse) took an indelible toll on all of us who love him.

“This suffering is plain wrong.”

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Mr Levanael has now turned his attention to highlighting NSW’s “backwards” laws around assisted dying.

On Tuesday the Queensland Premier introduced a draft of the state’s Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 to parliament.

Annastacia Palaszczuk said the introduction of a Bill was a “step in the right direction” to ensure there was a “dignified option” available to everyone.

Earlier this month – after 16 failed attempts – South Australia became one step closer to legalising voluntary assisted dying after a bill was passed in the upper house, after 25 years of trying.

If passed in the lower house, South Australia will be the fourth state to pass legislation to allow voluntary assisted dying behind Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.

NSW’s bill is expected to be debated in parliament later this year.

It will be the third time the legislation has been debated, with bills being defeated previously in both 2013 and 2017. In 2017, the legislation failed to pass by just one vote.

“The laws need to be changed in NSW and the rest of the country so people with a terminal illness can die with a sense of grace and dignity,” Mr Levanael said.

“I’ve witnessed this first-hand with my dad and the suffering caused can be avoided if the laws are changed.”

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Mr Levanael said he did his best to “return the dignity that was taken from him through the whole, useless, drawn-out, pointless and dehumanising ordeal”.

“I wished, in this grief, that he’d had a good death,” he said.

“I had tried so hard to be heard, I had seen the warning signs and no-one would listen.

“We can’t let other people go through this suffering – it’s just madness.”

Mr Levanael said he knew religion could be divisive and polarising but did not think anyone’s beliefs or faith should have anything to do with giving his dad – and others like him – a honourable and painless death.

“A way for him to keep his dignity and go in a manner of his own choosing,” he said.

“I cannot watch another person I love go through this torment.

“We need better end-of-life choices across Australia and the world.”

Dying with Dignity NSW, an advocacy organisation pursuing a change in the law, has received more than 34,000 signatures for its petition.

“We ask members of the NSW Parliament to work together to pass voluntary assisted dying laws in 2021,” the organisation says.

“Over 80 per cent of the community believe that dying people should have the right to ask for medical assistance to end their lives peacefully.

“People are suffering right now and we cannot wait any longer. Every day matters.”

Go Gentle Australia is also recording names of people who support voluntary assisted during.