Terminally ill people are one step closer to being able to make a choice when they die MPs voted to support a proposed change to the law.

The right to assisted death will be granted to people with a life expectancy of six months or less provided that two doctors and a judge approve their application.

It is one of the most significant and sensitive matters on which MPs have voted in recent years – although he still has to clear other rounds of voting before it can be implemented.

Two weeks ago BBC News interview with two terminally ill people about their feelings on the assisted dying bill and we spoke to them again after the vote on Friday evening.

“I’m over the moon, I’m so happy,” says Elise Burns, whose cancer means she lives in constant pain.

“The bill is going to save so many painful and horrific unnecessary deaths – as well as the families and loved ones who would have to see them go through.”

She was watching the assisted dying debate from the public gallery in the House of Commons after joining the assisted dying campaign a few months ago.

Elise, 50, is terminally ill after the breast cancer spread to other parts of her body, including her bones – her femur had to be replaced with a metal rod after it was rotted away by cancer cells.

“I am completely and utterly shell-shocked. I was of course hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,” said Elise, who thought that MPs could decide against the bill after see the debate in person.

Nik Ward, who has motor neurone disease and opposes the law to change assisted dying, told us: “Obviously I’m a bit disappointed.”

He watched the debate and voted at home.

“But, at the same time, the point was made over and over again [during the debate] palliative care has improved little since the last vote nine years ago.”

Also known as end of life care, this service is for those people in the last months and years of their lives.

It can be received at home or in a care home, hospice or hospital – depending on the patient’s needs and preferences.

The supporters of the bill think about dying this service needs to be better funded if terminally ill people have a real choice between dying naturally or dying earlier.

“There was not much discussion and perhaps, in the coming years before the [assisted dying] Once the bill is implemented, there will be time for a comprehensive review,” says Nik.

The 53-year-old has been told for the past five years that he is terminally ill and knows he could die tomorrow by choking on food or his own saliva.

Another concern he has about the bill being passed is that people who are terminally ill, vulnerable and facing the feelings of early death, will choose to end their lives unnecessarily early for what they consider to be noble reasons.

“It’s the good people, the people who want to be good, who have dignity and want to do the right thing – those are the ones I worry about and think about. [this law] it could be a problem,” he tells us.

“It’s the grandmother in the care home who doesn’t want to spend all the money she has in her savings account because she wants her grandchildren to get it,” he says. “People like her who will want to end their lives.”

He says: “This is despite the fact that her grandchildren will probably value the last bit of time they got with her more than an extra £10,000 or £20,000.

“People will do a [life or death] a decision based on internal judgments that are not necessarily accurate because people do not have honest conversations about death.”

He says better conversations would help terminally ill people make the most of the time they have left with their loved ones, so they choose not to end their lives too soon.

“Ironically, I think what people say and do at the end of their life is the whole definition of their life,” says Nik.

For Elise, she knows that the end of her life will be filled with increasing pain and suffering as her body becomes more tolerant to the morphine she uses – making it less effective as a pain reliever.

She fears a painful death and is glad that the bill will finally give people like her a choice.

“It gives them the right to die well, that’s really important,” she says.

She explains that it will also relieve people of the stress of terminally ill people dying abroad – and the fear of prosecution upon their return.

“It’s going to save a lot of pain and trauma.”

One of the things that struck her and Nik during the debate was the way the MPs behaved.

“Overall I thought it was done with respect on both sides,” she says and hopes that will encourage people at home to talk about the issue in a similar way.

Nik goes further and says it was “absolutely edifying”.

He says: “It was very grown up and I wish there was more of it. That’s the way a democracy should work.”

For Elise and her fellow campaigners, the democratic system worked in their favor this time.

“I am very happy for everyone,” she says. “[Assisted dying] it’s something I’ve always felt strongly about, even though it never occurred to me that I might need it one day.”

The bill probably came too late for her because she will probably be dead by the time it takes effect.

She is planning to use the assisted dying service offered by Dignitas in Switzerland before her cancer pain is over.

Until then she will be making the most of her time with her family and celebrating with fellow campaigners after taking this latest step to change the law.

“I am extremely grateful that I and thousands of others will be given the option of a good death,” she tells us. “Or to shorten a bad one.”

HARDtalk – The UK debate on dying

The UK parliament is considering proposals to legalize assisted dying. It would bring it in line with some European countries, Canada and some US states. Stephen Sackur talks to actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr about whether the focus on ‘a good death’ is detracting from the right to a good life?