Australian cancer victim Holly Butcher’s last letter before she died went viral on social media, drawing people’s attention to the importance of cherishing life since you never know when a fatal disease can end it at any time.

Butcher, 27, died Thursday from a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing Sarcoma, after which a letter that she had written before her death, was uploaded to her Facebook page. Apart from the heartbreaking revelations in her letter, people were also keen to find out more about the disease that ended her life.

According to Cancer.Gov, “Ewing sarcoma is a type of tumor that forms from a certain kind of cell bone or soft tissue. Ewing sarcoma may be found in the bones of the legs, arms, feet, hands, chest, pelvis, spine, or skull. Ewing sarcoma also may be found in the soft tissue of the trunk, arms, legs, head, and neck, abdominal cavity, or other areas.”

It is also called, primitive neuroectodermal tumor, Askin tumor (Ewing sarcoma of the chest wall), extraosseous Ewing sarcoma (Ewing sarcoma in tissue other than bone).

Some of the symptoms of the disease include Pain and/or swelling, usually in the arms, legs, chest, back, or pelvis, lump in the arms, legs, chest, or pelvis, fever, and sudden bone fractures.

This type of cancer is mainly seen in adolescents and young adults. Five main types of treatment for the cancer are Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, Surgery, Targeted therapy, High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue.

Although in her letter titled “Note before I Die,” Butcher did not open up about the kind of treatments she received, she did thank all those who stepped forward to donate blood – something that helped her 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 Facebook post.

Her thoughts were echoed by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, who said it was a little-known fact that requirement of fresh blood is the most among cancer patients.

"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. "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 added that unfortunately, people have the habit of waiting for their friends or family to fall sick before they can think about donating blood. Then there is the matter of most of the blood donors donating blood only once in their lives.

“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."

Read Butcher’s inspiring letter – full of life lessons – below:

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