+
upworthy

grief

Health

27-year-old who died of cancer left behind final advice that left the internet in tears

"Don't feel pressured to do what other people might think is a fulfilling life. You might want a mediocre life and that is so OK."

Photo courtesy of Remembering Holly Butcher/Facebook used with permission.

Holly Butcher left behind her best life advice before she passed away at 27.

The world said goodbye to Holly Butcher, a 27-year-old woman from Grafton, Australia.

Butcher had been battling Ewing's sarcoma, a rare bone cancer that predominantly affects young people. In a statement posted on Butcher's memorialized Facebook account, her brother, Dean, and partner, Luke, confirmed the heartbreaking news to friends.

"It is with great sadness that we announce Holly's passing in the early hours of this morning," they wrote on Jan. 4, 2018. "After enduring so much, it was finally time for her to say goodbye to us all. The end was short and peaceful; she looked serene when we kissed her forehead and said our final farewells. As you would expect, Holly prepared a short message for you all, which will be posted above."

Butcher's message, which Dean and Luke did, in fact, post publicly shortly thereafter, has brought the internet to tears.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Girl uses late grandpa's old clothes to make fashionable outfits to 'keep him close'

She's upcycled multiple shirts that you'd never be able to tell belonged to her grandpa.

Girl upcycles grandpa's old clothes into fashionable outfits.

Losing a grandparent can be hard no matter your age, especially if you were particularly close with them. Sometimes holding on to some of their belongings can help bring you a bit of comfort as you remember them. For Issy Spurway, doing something fun with a bag of her late grandpa's clothes is helping to keep him close to her heart.

Instead of donating the clothes to a local shelter, Spurway figured out a way to wear them herself without looking like a grandpa. The 21-year-old is a textiles student at Loughborough University in the UK. She deconstructs her grandfather's clothing items with a seam ripper and scissors before cutting patterns she comes up with to create a completely redesigned item.

Just looking at the items, it would be nearly impossible for you to know they were once worn by an elderly man. So far she's deconstructed and upcycled over 100 items.

Keep ReadingShow less
Canva

A grieving widow shares lessons on how to live after loss.

True
Prudential

This article originally appeared on 02.14.17


Amelia and Manny made clear plans when they got married.

They planned to travel around the world. They planned what they’d want their family and their futures to look like. It was all so normal and real.

And then something they couldn't have planned for happened: Manny unexpectedly passed away soon after they'd tied the knot.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modern Families

Man makes heartwarming video about missing his 'weird mom' who talked to trees

"Sometimes I would even find her in the back yard having full one-sided conversations with the trees."

Man's heartwarming video about missing his 'weird mom'

There's a reason the phrase, "You don't know what you have until it's gone," is a cliché. In many cases, it's an accurate statement, and one man who found himself in the middle of that cliché decided to share his biggest regret with others. Reddit user u/bagaljvkoO shared a video of a panda intercut with images of trees as a man's voice narrated a story about missing his mom.

The man confessed that when he was younger he always felt like his mom was weird because she would do things that other parents didn't do. One example was her sending thank you cards to all of his classmates along with homemade cookies on his birthday. The cards were thanking the kids in his class for being his friend. It's a very sweet gesture but was probably a little embarrassing.

But one thing that made him question his mom's sanity a little was her affinity for talking to their trees in the backyard.

Keep ReadingShow less