CAMDEN Haven environmentalist, artist, and assisted dying advocate Janet Cohen, is being remembered as a trailblazer who fought to live her death as she lived her life: “with purpose and conviction”.
Janet died in Port Macquarie Base Hospital on 16 March, 12-years after she was first diagnosed with lung cancer.
She was 72.
Throughout her illness, Janet never wavered in her commitment to serving the arts, the environment and the disadvantaged.
Friend Steve Adams summed up her contribution to society.
“Janet was an activist, artist, writer, environmentalist, humanist, nature lover, and one of the nicest people on the planet.”
Partner Glenn Brewer met Janet while trekking through the Tasmanian wilderness in 1995.
He followed her to WA before the couple moved east in 1996, later settling in Dunbogan.
Janet worked at Port Macquarie Hastings Council for five years as a Cultural Development Officer, before leaving to become a freelance arts consultant.
In 2006, her “dream job” came up at Sea Acres in Port Macquarie, where she spent the next 10 years working with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to manage the rainforest centre’s revitalisation.
Friend Les Mitchell said she was a passionate advocate for the environment.
“She had a wonderful ability to articulate the arguments for conserving nature,” he said.
“The protection of the natural values of Camden Head was a particular focus for her, despite her health.”
Together they argued for the establishment of a Council biodiversity committee, “to ensure community input was taken into account in planning decisions, to protect biodiversity in our local area.”
A non-smoker, Janet discovered she had lung cancer in 2013, just before her 60th birthday.
Two years later, she was told it was terminal.
In 2017 she resigned from Sea Acres and joined the fight to allow the terminally ill to end their life with the support of a healthcare professional.
She became an advocate for Dying with Dignity and Go Gentle, writing that “I don’t want people to say I lost my battle with cancer. I want an empowered, meaningful death.”
When MP Alex Greenwich introduced the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill to the NSW Parliament in 2021, Janet shared her story in the media and in parliament, becoming one of the faces of the proposed legislation.
The Bill was passed on 19 May 2022.
After an 18-month implementation period, the legislation came into effect on 28 November 2023, making NSW the last state in Australia to legalise voluntary assisted dying.
Janet did not get the chance to take advantage of the law she helped introduce, however Glenn praised staff at Port Macquarie Base Hospital for the care and compassion they showed in respecting her final decisions.
Janet’s life has been celebrated privately. It was her wish that her transition be low key in keeping with her Buddhist practice.
By Sue STEPHENSON
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