Man, 28, Chooses Euthanasia Rather Than Live with Bipolar Disorder, Documents His ‘Last Supper’ with Thousands of Strangers

“I am bipolar and I moved to the Netherlands to legally end my life,” said Joseph Awuah-Darko, 28

By 

Vanessa Etienne

Published on March 14, 2025 04:16PM EDT

Trigger Warning ⚠️

A 28-year-old man in the Netherlands has opted to end his life with euthanasia rather than continue living with mental illness.

Joseph Awuah-Darko, a British-Ghanaian artist, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has documented his decades-long battle with mental health on social media. After failed treatments and no relief, he announced in an emotional Instagram video that he’s decided to end his life. He is waiting for approval, which could take up to four years.

“Hi,” he said in the video, posted in December. “I’m Joseph, I am bipolar and I moved to the Netherlands to legally end my life.”

Bipolar disorder is a manic-depressive illness of the brain that causes extreme changes in mood and energy levels, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. There are four basic types of the disorder, which are characterized by periods of elation and hyper-activity known as manic episodes, which are then followed by depressive stages where the patient experiences feelings of sadness and depression.

Patients will often experience intense emotions as well as disruption to sleep patterns and their ability to think clearly. These periods can last for an extended time — days or even weeks — with no clear way of predicting when one period will end and another will begin. This can cause patients to have difficulty at work, school or maintaining their relationships.

In the Instagram video, Awuah-Darko said he wakes up every day in “severe pain,” which led him to opt for a medically assisted death. He spent five years contemplating the decision before filing an official request with the Euthanasia Expert Centre in the Netherlands.

“I am not saying that life (as a phenomenon) isn’t worth living. It ABSOLUTELY is. What I am saying is that the mental weight of MINE has become entirely unbearable. 💔,” he wrote in the caption. “I am NOT special, like many people in their 20s; the constant burnout, the burden of debt, paralysing depression, violent media cycle and the dystopian reality of AI …all weigh heavy. The reality I face of being bipolar exacerbates all this.”

Now more than ever, the possibility of being humanely put to rest with dignity matters,” he added. “I’m ready to go home.❤️”

Euthanasia became legal in the Netherlands when the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act was passed in April 2001, taking into effect in April 2002. 

With its passing, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to make euthanasia legal, per BBC News. The country’s official government website states that the procedure is performed by a physician who administers “a fatal dose of a suitable drug to the patient on his or her express request.”

“There is a dignity attached to doing it this way, with as much closure, patience and understanding in knowing that you will not have to be discovered lifeless by somebody else, not a train conductor, not your sibling, not your friends,” Awuah-Darko told the U.K. newspaper The Times. “You will have a non-violent end to your life with medical assistance, with support, with closure for those who love you.”

After sharing his story publicly, Awuah-Darko received responses with mixed emotions — those who respected his decision, those with pleas to change his mind and those who claimed he was “glorifying” suicide.

Additionally, he received more than 100 messages from strangers inviting him to have dinner with them. It quickly inspired him to launch a worldwide dinner tour, calling it “The Last Supper Project.” He plans on traveling and having a number of meals with strangers while he waits for approval on his request for euthanasia on grounds of mental suffering.

So far, Awuah-Darko has traveled to Paris, Milan, Brussels, and Berlin for 57 dinners, which he’s documented on social media. He has over 120 more dinners planned through August.

I have such an emotional relationship with food from memories of my mother’s sautéed onions and jollof rice, having fantastic prosciutto in Venice, to remarkable meat in Argentina when I used to go watch my father play polo,” Awuah-Darko told the outlet. “I thought, ‘As I work with this non-violent transition in my life, why don’t I connect with people to break bread?’ “

“I find that I quite literally was made to interact with people this way. It’s such a beautiful, organic part of my life. It doesn’t feel difficult,” he continued. “I enjoy decentering myself from my life and being a part of other people’s during dinner. I do find great fulfillment in connecting with people this way.”

Despite how uplifted he feels through “The Last Supper Project,” Awuah-Darko still shares raw videos of how much he still struggles with his bipolar disorder. While he appreciates the sense of community from the dinners, he said he feels neither better nor worse.

“I still do wake up with breathing, really profound pain attached to my bipolar disorder. There’s a huge amount of ambivalence,” he told The Times. “I hope that [people with chronic mental illness] feel seen through my existence and my decision to live as authentically as possible. If I end up doing this for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t be upset.”