27-year-old woman’s heartbreaking letter went viral after she passed away

A 27-year-old woman's open letter about the fragility of life went viral after she passed away.

Holly Butcher was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma last year. The rare form of bone and soft tissue cancer is most commonly found in children and young people. Holly passed away last week on January 4. Before she died, the Australian woman penned an emotive letter about the fragility of life, being able to be grateful for the things that you have, and the trouble with accepting your mortality at such a young age. Her family shared the letter on her Facebook page this week, prefacing her words with "A bit of life advice from Hol." She wrote:

"It’s a strange thing to realise and accept your mortality at 26 years young. 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 (...)  I planned on building with the love of my life. I want that so bad it hurts."

Holly went on to say that she wants to speak about death despite the fact that it is a "taboo" topic, but that she also wanted to talk about taking life for granted.

"Those times you are whinging about ridiculous things (something I have noticed so much these past few months), just think about someone who is really facing a problem. "Once you do that, get out there and take a freaking big breath of that fresh Aussie air deep in your lungs, look at how blue the sky is and how green the trees are; It is so beautiful. "Think how lucky you are to be able to do just that - breathe."

The New South Wales woman went on to provide a list of things that she thinks people should be doing while they still can. It included listening to music, cuddling their dog, travelling, working, and eating cake. She also reminded people to tell their loved ones how much they love them wherever possible and pointed out the importance of giving blood regularly. "Blood donation (more bags than I could keep up with counting) helped keep me alive for an extra year," she wrote.

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

She signed off her letter with "Til we meet again, Hol." Holly's message has since been shared over 50,000 times, with Facebook users sharing their own words of inspiration beneath her post.