undignified and intolerable'. Before the stroke Mr Nicklinson was a 'very active and outgoing man'. He describes having no 'privacy or dignity left' and says that what he objects to is having his right to choose taken away from him. Mr Nicklinson cannot be present for the hearing, but speaking before the proceedings began, his wife Jane, 56, said: 'We are just really happy that the time has come for Tony to get heard in court and we're just hoping for a good outcome.' She acknowledged: 'Whatever happens, there's no happy endings in this one.' Response: Strangers from around the world have contacted Tony Nicklinson with pro-life messages The Nicklinsons' daughter Lauren, 24, said: 'I think for us, because we knew the person that dad was before this, it makes it easier to accept. I know that if me and (sister) Beth were in that position, he'd be fighting for us the same way that we are fighting for him.' Asked about the landmark nature of the outcome of the case, Miss Nicklinson said: 'For us, it's about dad. We appreciate we'll have impacts on other people - hopefully, we're going to give other people in dad's situation their similar rights as well - but for us three, it's about dad.' Her sister Beth, 23, said: 'We always knew he'd feel like this so it didn't come as a shock that this is the point that it's come to.' In a letter to the BBC , written using computer software