When she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, Sydney woman Vanessa Juresic came up with a touching way to say goodbye to her loved ones and penned an emotional final letter to be read aloud at her funeral.
The 36-year-old was known for always needing to have the last word so after realising that the “insidious disease” would claim her life, she wrote a heart-wrenching note filled with poignant farewells and inspirational advice for her nearest and dearest.
Juresic died of Stage Four triple negative breast cancer on May 11 and her touching last words were read to the congregation at her funeral by close friend Lisa Mayoh.
In the heartfelt personal letter, Juresic paid tribute to her family including husband Patrick Callachor, who she described as the “love of my life”, and went on to say how much she longed to start a family with him.
She wrote: “We’re all impeccably lucky here. We have all had a world-class education, upbringing and opportunity — so much opportunity.
“Yes I wanted a family of my own, a long healthy life with the love of my life, Patrick. More travel, more time to appreciate every Christmas, birthday, Olympics, election, glass of fine wine, bowl of pasta and serve of apple crumble.
“But I’m not going to say to you to appreciate all these things in case you die. That’s too predictable. Instead I say don’t over analyse life and fear a horrible fate. Just live your full, wonderful lives and don’t give mortality a second thought. I was unlucky, but you are not.”
Juresic also laid out four “golden rules” for her friends and family and encouraged them to always go after what they want, ask questions and to keep moving forward. Before saying: “In a world where you can be anything … be kind. ”
Juresic battled for 15 months against the aggresive strain of breast cancer, which is difficult to treat and does not have any of the three receptors commonly found on breast cancer cells, oestrogen, progesterone or HER2.
About 15 per cent of breast cancers are triple negative and survival rates are less than 12 months if the patient is unresponsive to chemotherapy.
Following her diagnosis, Vanessa’s friends set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to support Vanessa during her cancer battle.
People generously donated more than $33,000 (AU $43,574), which will now be donated to The Garvan Institute for Medical Research to fund the work of her oncologist Elgene Lim.
Juresic ended the note with a touching quote from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, and wrote: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Earlier this year we reported a similar story about 27-year-old Holly Butcher, from, who penned an emotional and frank letter of her own before she died of Ewing’s Sarcoma on January 4.