A heartbreaking final letter of advice has been shared by the grieving family of a woman who has just died of cancer.
Holly Butcher of Grafton, Australia, penned insights about life as death closed in.
The 27-year-old died on Thursday, Jan. 4, after a battle with Ewing’s sarcoma—a cancer in and around the bones.
And now her family has shared her final message.
She wrote that it was strange to accept death at a young age because she envisioned living her dreams.
“I always imagined myself growing old, wrinkled and grey—most likely caused by the beautiful family (lots of kiddies) I planned on building with the love of my life. I want that so bad it hurts,” she wrote.
“That’s the thing about life; It is fragile, precious, and unpredictable and each day is a gift, not a given right.
‘The days tick by and you just expect they will keep on coming; Until the unexpected happens.
I’m 27 now. I don’t want to go. I love my life. I am happy. I owe that to my loved ones. But the control is out of my hands.”
The young woman shared about the need to stop worrying about the “meaningless stresses in life” like getting stuck in traffic, chipping your nail, or a worrying about a flabby belly.
“Let all that [expletive] go. I swear you will not be thinking of those things when it is your turn to go.”
Butcher, who represented the state in squash and hockey, said she watched her body waste away and reminded people to appreciate what’s fundamental in life.
“I hear people complaining about how terrible work is or about how hard it is to exercise – Be grateful you are physically able to. Work and exercise may seem like such trivial things … until your body doesn’t allow you to do either of them.”
‘Take a big breath of that fresh Aussie air deep in your lungs, look at how blue the sky is and how green the trees are … think how lucky you are to be able to do just that – breathe.”
Urging everyone to cherish their time and use it more wisely, the 27-year-old wrote that people should “share their time” with friends and family and use money on experiences rather on material things.
“Get amongst nature,” she wrote.
“Try just enjoying and being in moments rather than capturing them through the screen of your phone. Life isn’t meant to be lived through a screen nor is it about getting the perfect photo … enjoy the bloody moment, people! Stop trying to capture it for everyone else.”
She encouraged people to “work to live not live to work” and to be generous.
“Give, give, give. It is true that you gain more happiness doing things for others than doing them for yourself.”
The young woman signed off by reminding everyone to donate blood.
“Blood donation … helped keep me alive for an extra year – a year I will be forever grateful that I got to spend it here on earth with my family, friends and dog,” she wrote.
“A year I had some of the greatest times of my life.”
From The Epoch Times
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