Quebec author Simon Roy receives medically-assisted dying after battle with brain cancer

After battling brain cancer, Quebec author Simon Roy received medical assistance in dying Saturday afternoon, Éditions du Boréal said in a statement.

At the end of June, Roy shared news of his condition on his Facebook page. He announced that his tumour was progressing rapidly and that he had greatly lost his "language skills."

He said in his post that doctors estimate he has about two months to live.

"I intend to ask for medical assistance to die towards the end of August. I accept this fate as calmly as possible. I have been preparing for it for 16 months now. Still, it's a damned slap in the face," he said.

Before he passed away, he dictated a message to his wife Marianne Marquis-Gravel for her to post on social networks. He mentioned that he planned to share a last meal with his partner and children, that he would have a last glass of wine in honour of the life he led and that he would listen to a song that was dear to him before taking his last breath.

"During these last minutes, the children will lay a hand on my cheeks, and Marianne will nestle her head against my heart I hope to be fully conscious, with my eyes wide open so I can look at them one last time and smile at them," Marquis-Gravel's Facebook post reads.

Roy taught literature at Collège Lionel-Groulx, but was first known for his book "Ma vie rouge Kubrick," published in 2014, and winner of the Prix des Libraires du Québec that year.

This was followed by "Owen Hopkins, Esquire," "Fait par un autre" and his most recent novel that marries fiction and reality, "Ma fin du monde," published last May. The latter reflects on fear based on his own experience and that of authors Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles.

His publisher said in a press release that his books were sometimes based on"an obsessive analysis of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining."

He wondered about the possibility of continuing to live when our lives are marked by tragedy. This a theme he addresses in his latest novel, in which he deals with his own death in a "dizzying" way.

"There is no doubt that the work he leaves us, marked by a profound originality, will have forced us to recognize that stories, inextricably mixing reality and lies, constitute the very substance of our lives," wrote Éditions du Boréal.

Marquis-Gravel recently wrote her first novel entitled "Dans la lumière de notre ignorance" about her relationship with Roy and shared a moving message on Facebook.

She said that in the last few days, Roy's condition had deteriorated, and he was having difficulty standing. He chose to have medical assistance in dying in order to leave lucid and conscious.

"He left us this afternoon at 3 p.m. at home in a gentle and accepting manner. He had been ready for days, but he wanted to be present at my birthday party. Simon, pure and simple, until the last breath. He even made jokes right up to the last few seconds," she said.

In addition to his partner Marianne Marquis-Gravel, Simon Roy is survived by his children, Romane and Colin.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 15, 2022.