A Frenchman who is suffering from an incurable condition said Friday he plans to livestream his death on social media as he refuses to take food, drink or medicine after President Emmanuel Macron turned down his request for euthanasia.

Alain Cocq, who suffers from a rare condition where the walls of the arteries stick together, said he believed he had less than a week to live and would livestream his death on Facebook from Saturday morning.

He had written to Macron asking to be given a substance that would allow him to die in peace but the president wrote back to him explaining this was not allowed under French law.

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Cocq, 57, has used his plight to draw attention to the situation of terminally-ill patients in France who are unable to be allowed to die in line with their wishes.

“Because I am not above the law, I am not able to comply with your request,” Macron said in a letter to Cocq, which the patient published on his Facebook page.

“I cannot ask anyone to go beyond our current legal framework… Your wish is to request active assistance in dying which is not currently permitted in our country,” said Macron.

‘With profound respect’

In order to show France the “agony” caused by the law in its current state, Cocq told AFP he would broadcast the end of his life on his Facebook page which he believed would come in “four to five days”.

He said he hoped his struggle would be remembered and “go down in the long term” as a step forwards in changing the law. He would halt all feeding, drinking and treatment from Friday night.