I have stage 4, multiple organ, terminal cancer. I have been fighting this horrible disease with every weapon known to medical science since the day I was diagnosed in the summer of 2014. Back then, the doctors determined that the disease was inoperable and terminal.

Earlier this spring my doctor determined that surgery to remove the diseased part of my colon was possible. The surgery took place in July and was successful, and for a moment, I hoped that by removing the original site of the disease, my liver tumors might recede.

Unfortunately that was not the case. In fact, the cancer has now spread to my lung.

But I’m still fighting. I’ve just undergone my 52nd round of chemotherapy. The fight will go on until I’m cured … or until my doctors, my family and I have determined there is nothing left to be done. If/when that time comes, I believe I should have the legal option to request and obtain a prescription from my doctor for life-ending medication, so I can die peacefully at home, in my sleep, surrounded by my loved ones, at the time of my choosing — and my doctor will not have to fear prison for exercising his judgment.

Medical aid in dying is the medical practice in which a terminally ill, mentally capable adult who has a prognosis of six months or less to live can request and obtain medication to end the suffering if it becomes unbearable. Medical aid in dying is authorized in six states — Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Montana, California and Colorado, as well as the District of Columbia — with a combined total of 40 years of experience with this end-of-life option. The law works as intended, with proven safeguards and none of the abuses opponents claim.

I am forever grateful for the compassionate, capable people in Hawaii’s hospice and palliative care fields. They do the work of angels. Medical aid in dying simply provides another option in the spectrum of end-of-life care. Even the most powerful medication sometimes is not enough to alleviate the excruciating pain, suffering and anxiety that can come with a terminal prognosis.

More importantly, some of us don’t wish to be subject to “terminal sedation,” given massive doses of morphine at someone else’s discretion until we lose consciousness and eventually stop breathing. When we have tried everything, battled for months (or in my case years) with all the tools in the oncologist’s arsenal, and in the end exhausted all hope of a cure, this final decision should be up to the individual.

Opponents within Hawaii’s small but vocal minority say that they support the concept, but that Hawaii’s medical community is “not ready” to adopt medical aid in dying. Hogwash. According to a November 2016 statewide survey by Anthology Marketing Group, 80 percent of Hawaii voters support medical aid in dying, across all demographics, including age, ethnicity, religion and geographic location.

Many large, secular health-care systems in California, Oregon and Colorado have adopted policies supportive of their patients who choose medical aid in dying and their doctors who practice it. This list includes such respected institutions as Kaiser, UCSF, UCLA, Cedar Sinai and Sutter Health. If they can do it, we, in the land of aloha, certainly can. And we must.

A bill to authorize medical aid in dying in Hawaii came very close to passing this year. Unfortunately, death is a subject many are not comfortable discussing, and despite overwhelming support in the state Senate, this well-crafted bill was deferred in the midst of a legislative shake-up. But we cannot wait. People are suffering. Speak up — to your lawmakers, your doctors, your family and your friends. It is time for “aloha” to also mean mercy under the law.

John Radcliffe is co-founder and president emeritus of Capitol Consultants of Hawaii. He is a veteran union leader, educator and governmental and political action specialist.