Rio de Janeiro (CNN) For Marieke Vervoort, the power to take her own life is really what's keeping her alive. The 37-year-old wheelchair racer lives with a degenerative spinal condition that can make sleeping and eating impossible, and causes so much pain that she received assisted suicide approval in her native Belgium in 2008. Fear and angerAside from a handful of countries, euthanasia and assisted suicide remain outlawed in most of the world. Vervoort is all smiles after receiving her silver medal in Rio. "When the day comes -- when I have more bad days than good days -- I have my euthanasia papers," she added.

Source: CNN September 12, 2016 13:51 UTC