Laila Soueif's body is becoming weaker and weaker.
Doctors have warned her that – after eight months on hunger strike – she's now at risk of sudden death.
But the strength of her resolve has not diminished at all.
Speaking to the BBC from St Thomas' hospital in London, the 69-year-old British-Egyptian maths professor says that she "passionately" wants to live.
But she told the Today programme that she was prepared to die if that was what it took to get her son Alaa Abdel Fattah – Egypt's most prominent political prisoner – out of jail in Cairo.
Calling on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his government to find a way to get Egypt to release him, she says she believes she has "no other choice" but to continue to refuse calories.