Euthanasia authorised for young woman from Malaga province suffering from neurodegenerative disease

Some dreams fit in a notebook or a phone's notepad, but there are lives in which each dream is like a victory.

Alida Azabal Martín, a 25-year-old woman from Malaga, suffers from two incurable neurodegenerative diseases and wants to hold on to those dreams before she says goodbye to life. Her mother, Virginia Martín, 49, accompanies her on this journey with a mixture of love, pain and hope.

Her application to end her life through euthanasia was granted last November, but Alida has not yet set a date because she first wants to fulfil two of the more than 50 wishes that her mother has been writing down since she was a child: swim with sea lions at the Río Safari facility in Elche, Alicante, and visit the Oceanogràfic in Valencia.

"Alida is 25 years old. She has been granted euthanasia, but she's currently postponing it because she wants to fulfil some dreams," Virginia tells SUR. She has become her daughter's voice because Alida has great difficulty speaking and gets very nervous.

Virginia tells the story with an impressive serenity, but with an emotional depth that shines through in every sentence.

This Tuesday, mother and daughter set off for Alicante to try and make the first of those dreams a reality. In recent days, they have launched a fundraiser on social media to cover accommodation, food and fuel. Although they have already raised around 400 euros, they still need another 700 to finalise the trip and move forward with their plan.

Help is arriving little by little, through Bizum, PayPal and bank transfers, but the family is still seeking support to complete their fundraising efforts. The most affordable accommodation they've found is a campsite with bungalows, a modest option that allows them to keep the trip going and dream for a few more days.

It all began to take shape last summer when Alida, exhausted by the pain, finally said: "I can't take it anymore." During one of the routine visits by doctors and nurses to her home to alleviate her suffering, the possibility of requesting euthanasia in accordance with current Spanish law came up. Since then, the family have been living between relief and uncertainty.

Alida's story is not simply an administrative decision or a clinical diagnosis. Her mother describes her with a phrase that has become a family motto: "She's a fighter, but she's tired of fighting."

Behind the young woman lie years of illness, constant care and an almost superhuman effort to stay alive. Both mother and daughter use adapted motorised wheelchairs, which they propel with one hand.

Alida suffers from a neurodegenerative mitochondrial disease and Aicardi-Goutières syndrome, both of genetic origin and incurable. The medical reports on her case list respiratory problems, tetraparesis, malnutrition, chronic pain and total dependence for basic activities, in addition to palliative care since October 2024.

"Two years ago they wanted to sedate her because she couldn't eat and had dropped to 20 kilos, but I wasn't prepared to sedate her and then she started eating a little and recovered," Virginia says.

Last Monday, as is routine, they went to Hospital Civil for treatment. There, Alida once again received support from doctors and healthcare workers, as well as musical accompaniment from Diego Lara of the Fundación Cultura en Vena, a brief respite in a life marked by illness and suffering.

After the hospital appointment, the day ended with an everyday gesture that, in Alida's case, holds immense value: she went to Carrefour to buy herself ham and some bread she loves. It's details like this, simple and almost domestic, that most clearly illustrate the daily struggle of a young woman trying to savour every moment of life she has left until she decides to initiate voluntary death.

Virginia is also experiencing her own struggles. She worked as a cleaner in Rincón de la Victoria until about five years ago, when she had to quit after becoming disabled herself.

Now she awaits further tests to determine if she suffers from the same illness as her eldest daughter. At home, there is also 22-year-old Ylenia, who has just made Virginia a grandmother to Thalia.

The family have been fighting a silent enemy for years. In 2015, when Alida was a teenager, SUR reported on her mother's struggle to obtain an adapted car. At that time, doctors told them the young woman would barely reach 20. She has defied that prognosis and today, at 25, she continues to cling to the possibility of fulfilling at least a handful of wishes before deciding to end her life by euthanasia.

The list her mother has been writing since she was little is, in reality, a roadmap for her life. Among Alida's dreams are meeting artists like actor Mario Casas, seeing the twins from the TV show La Casa de los Gemelos and visiting places that, for her, are part of a dream world.

Right now, her priority is the Río Safari in Alicante, where she wants to swim with the sea lions.

Virginia wants her daughter to be able to fulfil her greatest dreams before making any final decisions. Until that moment arrives, the family cling to the trip, the fundraising and the hope that Alida can see her dreams come true, even if little by little, before saying goodbye.

"She was bedridden for a year. After treating all the ulcers she developed, which were very serious and painful, she was even able to take a few steps," Virginia explains.

Alida has turned her bucket list into a way to resist. Every plan written down by her mother is also a way for her to continue feeling alive, to cling to small dreams that for others would be a triviality. Travelling, seeing new places, or sharing a different kind of day with her family have become seemingly simple goals, but very powerful for someone who lives in a constant struggle against pain, confined to a wheelchair for as long as she can remember.

Virginia acknowledges her daughter's authorised euthanasia "has completely changed her life". "It's the worst thing that can happen to you, losing a child. Even if you say you're prepared, you never really will be," she states.

"It's the greatest pain I'll ever suffer, but at the same time, the greatest act of love for her," Virginia says. All she wants is to be with her daughter "in any way possible and help her live these last days with as much dignity and peace as possible".

"But I break down many times. I close my eyes and see her funeral; that's very hard. She can't live with the pain she's in," Virginia understands. Between the illness, the dependency and the pain, mother and daughter now cling to the hope that this trip to Alicante will be just the first of several dreams fulfilled.

"I hope that when she fulfils these dreams, she'll want to keep fulfilling more and keep postponing euthanasia to stay a little longer with us. I haven't lost that hope," Alida's mother says.

Alida's story cannot be understood without considering the everyday environment in which she tries to cope.

Today, the trip to Elche feels both like a ritual and a farewell. The young woman from Malaga wants to swim with sea lions, gaze at the sea and feel that she can still make choices for herself, even if the clock is ticking in the background.

Meanwhile, her family seek support so that her dream doesn't remain unfulfilled and so that Alida's journey is filled with small wishes.

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