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A woman's heartbreaking final letter is going viral thanks to its poignant advice for everyone

Holly Butcher penned a poignant open letter just before she died [Photo: Facebook/Holly Butcher]
Holly Butcher penned a poignant open letter just before she died [Photo: Facebook/Holly Butcher]

A moving letter a young woman penned just before she died is going viral after serving as a poignant reminder to others to cherish life.

Holly Butcher, from New South Wales, Australia was just 27 when she lost her battle to Ewing’s sarcoma – a rare form of cancer that mainly affects young people.

She asked her family to share her touching message on Facebook to help encourage others to live their life to the full. And provide some, often-needed perspective.

“It’s a strange thing to realise and accept your mortality at 26 years young,” she began her open letter.

“It’s just one of those things you ignore. The days tick by and you just expect they will keep on coming; Until the unexpected happens.”

“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 continued.

Holly went on to urge others to try not to sweat the small stuff.

“You might have got caught in bad traffic today, or had a bad sleep because your beautiful babies kept you awake, or your hairdresser cuts your hair too short. Your new fake nails might have got a chip, your boobs are too small, or you have cellulite on your arse and your belly is wobbling,” she wrote.

“Let all that s*** go.. I swear you will not be thinking of those things when it is your turn to go. It is all SO insignificant when you look at life as a whole.”

“I’m watching my body waste away right before my eyes with nothing I can do about it and all I wish for now is that I could have just one more Birthday or Christmas with my family, or just one more day with my partner and dog. Just one more.”

“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,” she writes.

Holly’s Facebook post has gone viral [Photo: Facebook/Holly Butcher]
Holly’s Facebook post has gone viral [Photo: Facebook/Holly Butcher]

And Holly had something to say about body image too, reminding others to try to be healthy but not obsessive about the way we look.

“I tried to live a healthy life, in fact, that was probably my major passion,” she explained.

“Appreciate your good health and functioning body- even if it isn’t your ideal size. Look after it and embrace how amazing it is. Move it and nourish it with fresh food. Don’t obsess over it.”

“Eat the cake. Zero guilt,” she added.

“Remember there are more aspects to good health than the physical body.. work just as hard on finding your mental, emotional and spiritual happiness too. That way you might realise just how insignificant and unimportant having this stupidly portrayed perfect social media body really is.”

Holly ended her post with a call for others to consider donating blood, claiming it was an easy way to help save lives.

“Blood donation (more bags than I could keep up with counting) 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…’Til we meet again.”

Heartbreaking.

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