She touched thousands around the world with her open and frank musings about life as a mum with terminal cancer.
Blogger and author, Julia Watson, died this week after her 3 year battle with bowel cancer.
The mother of four daughters was diagnosed in 2013 and wrote a book called: Breakfast, School Run, Chemo which documented in a sometimes funny, often harrowing way she continued living her life after the devastating diagnoses.
The Australian was determined to squeeze every bit of joy out of life, but in an emotional interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes a few months ago she broke down as she spoke about leaving her children behind:
“You never think when you bring children into this world that you’re not going to be the person that raises them”
(Image via Australia’s 9 Network)
Her blog, Five Fairies And A Fella, had a massive following and provided inspiration to other cancer sufferers as she shared her very honest and touching journey.
One of her most poignant blogs urged mums not to die ‘with their light still inside of them.’ Julia chose to view her diagnoses as a chance to really grasp life with both hands and live it with as much zest as she could.
“It’s a light that comes from giving yourself a shake and saying “come on old girl, you don’t know how long you’ve got. You CAN’T keep messing this up”. As wet as this might sound, I quite literally decided that I wouldn’t die with my light still inside me, and I set about making sure that I didn’t”
She continued on with this advice in her final days:
“Find what makes you shine (and you probably already know what it is), and start making steps towards it. They can just be baby steps, but make them. Plant the seed. DO IT NOW. You don’t need perspective the way I got it – and believe me, you don’t want it. You do it while you still have all the innocence of someone who has a lot of years in front of you. Because, by the law of averages, some of you haven’t, and you just don’t know it yet.”
Since her death on December 18th, donations have been flooding in for her family. Most of it will be used to support the care of Julia’s children, including her daughter Georgia who has Down Syndrome.
