Jeanne Little’s daughter calls for legalised euthanasia

Flamboyant entertainer and daytime TV darling Jeanne Little’s ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s Disease has prompted daughter Katie to call for legalised euthanasia.

Jeanne, 79, was first diagnosed with the disease in 2009, and has been bedridden in a nursing home for the last seven years.

Since then, the star’s tragic decline has been well documented, with daughter Katie recently telling Woman’s Day that her mother would not want to live the way she is currently living.

“She’d be mortified, and I know given a choice she’d never wish to be alive under these circumstances,” Katie said, adding “I know Mum would rather die than go on living for years like this.”

According to Katie, who was quoted in a Daily Mail article, her mother was a euthanasia supporter from way back, having visited a friend in a similar position many years ago.

Katie recalled the multi-Logie winner saying to her husband Barry, “If I ever get like that put a pillow over my face.”

Watching her mother lose the capacity to feed and bathe herself, Little’s daughter says she would support legalising euthanasia if it allowed her mother to “die with dignity”.

Katie also revealed that Jeanne no longer recognises her family or surrounds.

“She’s ok, the only blessing is she doesn’t know what’s going on so she just kind of lies there a lot now and sort of drifts in and out of sleep,” Katie told Channel Seven’s The Morning Show in September.

“I do think, ‘God it’s such a horrible illness’, it just goes on and on and on and you think, ”Gosh this is going to go on for years and years and years’,” Katie said.

“Dementia doesn’t just affect the person who’s got it, it also has such a huge impact one everyone in your life and all the family and everything too,” she added.

Little’s husband Barry, who is said to be similarly devastated at his beloved wife’s decline in health, is now living in the same nursing home.

The one silver lining is Jeanne and her husband can be together again.

“It’s so fantastic now he’s in the same nursing home as mum,” Katie said, explaining they’re not in the same room but at least they have daily contact.

What are your favourite memories of Jeanne Little? How did you handle a loved one’s decline into Alzheimer’s?