The sudden attack of Guillain-Barré syndrome left Archbishop Anthony Fisher in hospital for the next five months. He lay alongside people with incurable degenerative illnesses such as motor neurone disease and relied on others for every aspect of his existence.
"Though I recovered, I had an experience of the kind of suffering that makes people want to end it all," he told a parliamentary inquiry considering a draft law to allow voluntary assisted dying in NSW.
Archbishop Fisher is one of a number of religious leaders, including the Grand Mufti of Australia and the president of the Rabbinical Council of NSW, to appeal to MPs not to pass the law.
"I approach these questions not just from theory or dogma, but personal experience," the archbishop said on Friday.
His mother is presently dying of bone marrow cancer, and he has spent more than 30 years sitting with the dying and comforting grieving families, he said.
Legalising voluntary assisted dying would be a radical departure from one of the founding principles of our society, the archbishop argued.
"It confirms in law that some people are regarded as better off dead," he said.
"Our legal system, health professionals and care institutions will help to make them dead."
Rabbi Nochum Schapiro drew on his own experience of an "incredibly painful" haemorrhage 12 years ago, as he argued life is a mission that should not be abandoned.
"I just wanted it to end," he said.
"Thank God I was able to overcome the weeks of pain and live what I hope is a productive life for the 12 years since."'
Seeking to end one's life because one is in pain suggests a person is looking at what life can give them, he said. Instead, they should consider life a mission to bring goodness and light into the world.
The religious leaders were among more than 30 witnesses to appear in opposition to the bill at a packed hearing of the upper house inquiry on Friday.
Some suggested improved palliative care was the solution to end-of-life suffering.
Others raised concerns that the relatively narrow category of people who can access voluntary assisted dying under the bill - adults experiencing intolerable suffering who have less than six or 12 months to live - would inevitably be expanded.
The potential for abuse and coercion have also been raised repeatedly by opponents.
Supporters of the bill say it already contains sufficient safeguards and is consistent with laws in other Australian jurisdictions.
The committee is racing to consider the bill and report back to the Legislative Council before parliament resumes next year.
It will hold one further hearing next week, after input from the bill's supporters on Wednesday.
The draft law would make NSW the last Australian state to allow the terminally ill to choose to end their lives.
It mustered a 52 to 32 majority in the lower house after a mammoth four days of debate.
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