A mother who watched her daughter suffer and die from terminal cancer is calling for the legalisation of assisted dying.

Helen Thomas, 59, a business-owner in Hyndburn, witnessed her daughter Gemma Nuttall, a dental nurse, suffering unbearably from terminal cancer before she died in 2018, aged 25, in pain.

She said: "My beautiful daughter was diagnosed with womb cancer while she was pregnant at the age of just 25.

“Gemma did not choose to get cancer, did not choose to die, and most certainly would not have chosen to die in the way she did, had the option of assisted dying been available to her.

“We need a new law so that dying people like my daughter need not suffer in their final days of life, against their wishes."

Gemma, from Haslingden, was pregnant and during a scan, a ‘cyst’ was found which they said they would look at again at her next scan.

After this scan when Gemma was 16 weeks pregnant, she called her mother to tell her that she had cancer.

Helen decided to keep her baby, Penelope, and after a c-section, the cancer was removed however it later returned and spread all over her body.

Helen added: “Gemma died over several days in a hospice and while all efforts were made to keep her comfortable and sedated, she did not go peacefully or quietly. “

Research, commissioned by Dignity in Dying and conducted by JL Partners, found that 43 per cent of those surveyed had cared for or witnessed a friend or family member who suffered unbearably towards the end of life.

A third of respondents said they had cared for a loved one who they would have liked to have had the right to an assisted death.

Tom Davies, Director of Campaigns and Communications at Dignity in Dying, said:

“We’ve long known that assisted dying is a policy that unites the country, across all demographics and political leanings. This is the first time that voters in the all-important Red Wall seats have been asked for their views and the results are clear: an overwhelming majority support a change in the law to permit dying adults of sound mind to have choice and control over their deaths.

“With the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament and the States of Jersey due to debate assisted dying proposals in the coming weeks and months, and the recent news that the BMA has dropped its longstanding opposition to assisted dying, there has never been a greater likelihood of assisted dying being legalised in the UK. Evidence from overseas demonstrates that assisted dying laws are safe, compassionate and robust; this research demonstrates that they would be incredibly popular too.”