Brittany Maynard's husband Dan Diaz describes his 'special' wife Dan Diaz, 43, said his wife was 'special' and a 'good person to know' Described how she had a 'personality you really get attracted to' He admitted that she would joked about how he'd been single for too long But he answered by saying: 'I hadn't met the girl for me until Brittany' Pair met when he was 35 and she was 23. Five years later they married She took a lethal prescription of drugs in the bedroom of her Portland, Oregon, home on Sunday surrounded by her family By Wills Robinson and Mia De Graaf for MailOnline The husband of Brittany Maynard, who chose to end her life rather than suffer with terminal cancer, has said she was a 'beautiful person on the inside'. Dan Diaz, who was holding the 29-year-old in his arms when she took a lethal prescription of drugs in the bedroom of her Portland, Oregon, home on Sunday, said she had a 'personality you really get attracted to'. Talking to People.com, the 43-year-old described how they first met saying at first glance she was beautiful, but as they grew closer he realized she was also beautiful on the inside. Tribute; Dan Diaz (right), who was holding the Brittany Maynard (left) in his arms when she passed away on Sunday, said his wife was 'special' and had a 'personality you really get attracted to' Connection: He described how they first met saying at first glance she was beautiful, but as they grew closer he realized she was also beautiful on the inside. They are pictured on their weeding day at Beltane Ranch, California, in 2012 Memories: The couple shared one of the last items on Brittany's bucket list - a trip to the Grand Canyon In the October phone interview, that was published for the first time today, he added that she was 'attractive, energetic and outgoing'. For me it was meeting the person I fell in love with and that was Brittany. Jokingly, she would say I'd certainly been single long enough because there was an age difference between us. 'And "What's taken me so long?" and my answer was, honestly, that I hadn't met the girl for me until Brittany.' He said that he quickly realized that she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. They met when he was 35 and she was 23. After a five-year romance Mr Diaz proposed in May 2012, and the pair decided to get married that December. They tied the knot in the romantic setting of Beltane Ranch, California. 'Friends have told me our wedding was the best wedding they'd ever been to,' he told the magazine. Their honeymoon was their choice and, like a host of items on her bucket list, she wanted to adventure. They travelled to Patagonia, Argentina, for a trip that Diaz said turned out to be 'amazing' It was the best of both worlds,' Diaz told People. 'We'd go out to glaciers, go see nature, go for a hike and then come back and get pampered. 'So I'd say we really did it right where we had a lot of what she wanted - the outdoors, hiking and trekking and seeing the beautiful sights in nature - but then we'd also come back to the hotel and relax. Tribute: Brittany Maynard's mother Debbie Ziegler (pictured) described how her daughter would cartwheel for hours on end until she could do it perfectly. It was a sign of the love and effort she put into everything, she said On Monday Debbie Ziegler, 56, Brittany's mother also paid tribute to her late daughter. She described everything from cartwheels as a child to volunteering in Nepalese orphanages that made her only child 'smart', 'charismatic', and 'driven'. A single mom, Ziegler raised Maynard alone in Orange County, California, where she worked as a science teacher. Last week Maynard cried in a parting message, describing the painful prospect of leaving her mother childless. But Ziegler insists she feels blessed to have the shared 29 years before her daughter contracted Glioblastoma multiforme - an aggressive tumor in her brain. 'She was a smart, pretty and charismatic little girl, so she asked to do a lot of things and she generally excelled at all of them,' Ziegler reminisced to the People. 'If she took ice skating, she'd excel at ice skating,' she said. 'I can remember her doing cartwheels and my telling her, 'I could never do cartwheels,' but she just worked and worked and worked until she perfected it,' she said. She describes doing everything she could to give Maynard a vibrant childhood without siblings or a father. Love: She respected Brittany's decision to take her own life, saying it was her job to 'love her through it' Enriched: Ziegler describes how Maynard, pictured between her mother and husband, felt so strongly about the orphanages she worked in. Even suffering from cancer, she understood she had a high quality of life Promise: She has promised to go to Machu Picchu on her daughter's behalf after her passing on Sunday Plenty of their holidays were camping trips spent in Oregon, where Maynard - who married and took the last name Diaz - moved to end her life by taking advantage of the state's dignity with dying laws. On Sunday, she administered her lethal medicine and died in her bed at home in Portland surrounded by family. Twenty years earlier, she was just miles away dreaming of weddings and playing with her friend. 'She had a girlfriend, and she'd make clubhouses in these shrubs - dig under the shrubs and make little chairs and take out my silver-plated wedding gifts and bury them in the dirt,' Ziegler said. In the years that followed, Maynard went on to become a straight-A student at high school before enrolling at UC Berkeley then working in orphanages across south east Asia. Ziegler said the prospect of her daughter traveling to Asia was frightening, and she was astounded by the way Brittany dealt with the horrific situations she witnessed. Even after contracting terminal cancer, Brittany maintained Ziegler said: 'She'd call me and say, 'Oh mom, it's awful. Tearful: Brittany wept days before her passing as she described the pain of leaving her mother childless 'She'd try to get supplies and she'd take them to the orphanage, but the supplies never got distributed, so my daughter went in there and demanded to see where her supplies were. 'She said, 'I want you to show me where you put the supplies I gave you yesterday. They are for the children. She made them give them all back to her, and she took them into the room and gave them to the kids. Maynard said, in the weeks before her passing, her biggest regret is that she never got to have a family, having worked extensively with children. However, the experience in Asia had a dramatic effect on Maynard's perspective on life: 'She knows that even with her brain tumor, she's still surrounded by love,' Ziegler said. 'She's still surrounded by comfort and care, and there are societies where that it not at all ever the case.' Now mourning the loss of her child, Ziegler said she will one day travel to Machu Picchu in Peru. She made a deal with her daughter that, after her passing, Brittany's spirit will meet her up there among the breathtaking Inca ruins.