One woman’s story about helping her terminally-ill husband die on his own terms

November 7, 2022
Joanne Tubbs Kelly with her husband, Alan, at their wedding in 1997. Joanne Tubbs Kelly with her husband, Alan, at their wedding in 1997. Charlie Fellenbaum
Joanne Tubbs Kelly with her husband, Alan, at their wedding in 1997.

Joanne Tubbs Kelly and her husband, Alan, had talked hypothetically about their support for laws like Colorado’s End-of-Life Options Act, but they never knew it would be a choice they’d have to make. That changed when Alan Kelly was diagnosed with a terminal illness and decided he wanted to take advantage of the law. The book, "Walking Him Home: Helping My Husband Die with Dignity,” by Joanne Tubbs Kelly, is about that experience.