The husband of Lecretia Seales says she never thought about voluntary euthanasia before she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The lawyer fought to change the law around assisted dying and ultimately lost her battle with the illness.
Her husband Matt Vickers was speaking to Sunday Morning after the Monday release of his book Lecretia's Choice - a story of love, death and the law.
It chronicled her story and campaign leading up to her death.
He said Ms Seales had never come across the issue of voluntary euthanasia in her career, but was faced with the reality of it after she got sick.
"Like most New Zealanders, my experience and her experience with assisted dying was seeing it dramatised in various films and so on," he said.
"We had a general sense that it was right, and good. We never really thought about it much more than that."
He said that was why the campaign and book was so important.
"You never know when you might actually need this."
He said the couple had faced their challenges but he wanted people to get to know more about her.
"And I guess in a way to understand her motivation and why she wanted the choice that she wanted. That was important to me and that's why I think the book really needed to be written."