In the post, Sara reflected on her final months. "I am not in pain, or tired. I can laugh, talk, and I can move. Reflecting in my last few months of my life, I am glad I didn't go suddenly even WITH the suffering. I finished my list," she wrote.
Now, one week after her passing, her husband of over a decade is opening up about the unexpected final months they shared together.
When Halloween approached, Rusty and Sara made a difficult decision to have an honest conversation with their children about her condition. "We just had to be honest. Then we could say, 'Hey, we're not buying mom a Halloween costume because she's not going to be here.' And it helped them," Rusty recalls in the interview. "It was [the] worst conversation I've had to have my entire life, and they handled it way better than us."
The family experienced an unexpected milestone when Sara survived through Thanksgiving. "I kept calling it bonus time," Rusty said, describing the gratitude he felt for these additional weeks with his wife.
Sara's presence continued through the holiday season into the new year. The family celebrated New Year's Eve together on Dec. 31, marking Rusty's 43rd birthday. Though Sara had become largely confined to their bedroom during the final months of her life, the family adapted their celebrations to include her.
"It was awesome. We got to watch the ball drop. We all did it. We let the kids stay up until midnight this year, so they were thrilled. [Sara] was in our primary bedroom; she wasn't really able to go anywhere for the last couple months, but we just partied right there in the bedroom," Rusty said.
Sara first began experiencing symptoms in the spring of 2022, but did not receive an official ALS diagnosis until March 2023. At that time, according to Rusty, her medical team determined she would likely live between two and five years.
In March 2025, Rusty took a leave of absence from his consulting position to become Sara's full-time caregiver. The couple and their children prepared themselves for the possibility that she might not survive into the fall season. Yet Sara persevered through autumn, and Rusty found himself treasuring moments he thought would never come.
Sara's impact extended far beyond her immediate family. The former teacher had originally begun sharing online in 2020 to promote her professional organization business, the Ananda Edit. Following her diagnosis, she shifted her focus to the account @TheAnandaPivot to raise awareness about ALS and connect with others facing similar challenges.
The comments section on Sara’s farewell post is flooded with messages of gratitude from those the late influencer inspired and helped over the years.
Music producer Mikey Stone, who also has an ALS diagnosis and 214,000 Instagram followers, praised Sara's influence in the comments below her post. "You were one of the first people to reach out to me after I was diagnosed almost a year ago. I was lost and scared. Seeing you handle this head on with nothing but grace moved me beyond time and space bb," Stone wrote.
Another user who says they were a student of Sara commented: “Mrs. Bennett, you taught me to love psychology and lead me to pursue my career in social work today. your class was the highlight of my junior year of high school, a year that was particularly hard for me … thank you so much for everything that you did for me.”
The disease causes loss of muscle control that worsens over time, eventually impacting a person's ability to move, speak, eat, and breathe. Symptoms vary from person to person but often begin with muscle weakness, twitching, trouble walking, or slurred speech that spreads to other parts of the body as more nerve cells die.
The Mayo Clinic reports that about 10 percent of ALS cases have a genetic cause, while the rest remain unknown. There is currently no cure for the fatal disease, and half of the people with ALS die within 14 to 18 months of diagnosis, though some live 10 years or longer.