Who Was Holly Butcher? Cancer Victim’s Last Letter Goes Viral

A heartbreaking letter written by an Australian cancer victim went viral on social media, inspiring people to donate blood.

Holly Butcher, who was born in Grafton, New South Wales, lived in Brisbane, Queensland, in Australia, till she passed away at the age of 27. Butcher, who suffered from Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, wrote about the importance of donating blood — something that allowed her to live an extra year.

“…if you can, do a good deed for humanity (and myself) and start regularly donating blood,” she wrote. “It will make you feel good with the added bonus of saving lives. I feel like it is something that is so overlooked considering every donation can save three lives! That is a massive impact each person can have and the process really is so simple.”

“A year I will be forever grateful that I got to spend here on Earth with my family, friends and dog. A year I had some of the greatest times of my life," she added in the post.

Following Butcher’s heart-rending message, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service said what most people did not realize is that patients battling with chronic diseases like cancer were often in most need of blood than anyone else.

"A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that road trauma victims are the main users of blood," Shaun Inguanzo from the Australian Red Cross Blood Service said, ABC News reported. "While they use a lot of blood, road trauma victims only count for around 2 to 3 percent overall versus cancer patients who are around 34 percent. So, without donated blood, many cancer patients wouldn't be able to make it through that rigorous chemotherapy treatment."

Inguanzo also encouraged people not to “wait for their friends and family to become ill but to become regular blood donors to ensure that enough blood is there for Australians.”

Sadly, however, people often do not donate blood more than once in their life. Every year the Australian Red Cross has about 1.3 million donations on average of which only around 60,000 were second-time donors. And one off donations only go so far when it comes to the thousands of people who are dependent on fresh blood every day.

“Just to show you the power of one single donation, last year we had 455,000 people donate at least once, some more often,” Inguanzo said. “Of that, around 180,000 only donated once. If those 180,000 people came back and spent just another hour of their time, we would never have to call for blood again."

From a number of photos shared by Butcher, it was clear that she enjoyed traveling, spending time with her friends and family on beaches and making the most of life, in general.

Apart from donating blood, Butcher also had some other advises – lessons and revelations she learnt after she realized her days were numbered.

Get your priorities straight: “You might have got caught in bad traffic today, or had a bad sleep because your beautiful babies kept you awake, or your hairdresser cut your hair too short. Your new fake nails might have got a chip, your boobs are too small, or you have cellulite on your ass and your belly is wobbling. Let all that shit 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.”

Appreciate the gift called “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.”

Life is more than looks: “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 realize just how insignificant and unimportant having this stupidly portrayed perfect social media body really is.”

Experience Mother Nature: “Put in the effort to do that day trip to the beach you keep putting off. Dip your feet in the water and dig your toes in the sand. Wet your face with salt water. Get amongst nature. Try just enjoying and being in moments rather than capturing them through the screen of your phone.”

Respect time, for it is fleeting: “Value other people's time. Don't keep them waiting because you are shit at being on time. Get ready earlier if you are one of those people and appreciate that your friends want to share their time with you, not sit by themselves, waiting on a mate.”