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Elizabeth Wallner vividly remembers the moment when she knew there had to be a better way to die. Diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, Wallner was in the midst of brutal chemotherapy that made her violently sick to her stomach. As she was retching into the toilet, her son, then 16, sat on the bathroom floor, helpless to ease her pain. When her time comes, Wallner, a 52-year-old education consultant who also cares for her aging parents, wants to spare her family any more agonizing memories and instead take a lethal prescription, prescribed by her doctor. Starting June 9, that option will be available for the first time in California. (Buck, 5/5)