A UK cancer victim has offered some key advice we could all use in our daily lives in a final blog post, which he published just days before his death.
Elliot Dallen, 31, from London, was diagnosed with a rare adrenal cancer in 2018.
He has documented his cancer journey his blog The Cortisol Diaries and in a final post entitled 'The Switch and a Call to Arms' published earlier this week, described the things he's learned throughout his young life, and his realisations as he reached the end.
"I realised I had to finally accept the inevitable, fully, and there was no treatment. I thought this mindset would leave me feeling completely liberated. I was wrong," Dallen wrote in the post, which has now been shared worldwide.
"With no fights left to fight, it really was just waiting and the battle became emotional and mental. I thought I'd be prepared for that. I was wrong.
"The second half of this storyline will not pan out for me. I feel like half of my planned story arc is unfinished and it's a shame that I don't get to see where it goes. But everybody dies, and I really can't but think I've given life a good shot."
Dallen expressed his sadness over some of the things he missed out on, and that he will never get married and have children.
"There will always be places and experiences missing from anyone's bucket list - the world has too much beauty and adventure to ever complete one. I will miss those things that I had mentioned - marriage or children, blossoming careers and lives moving on," he wrote.
"But I'm not alone in my life being cut short, and I think my life has been a pretty successful one. I hope that I've made a difference to the lives of those I've met and continue to bring joy and happiness.
"Regardless of whether the above is true and my life would be defined as 'successful', it has no real bearing on whether I'm allowed to enjoy a few days of sitting and doing very little, not beating myself up over anything I should be doing. From reading Stoicism and Buddhism I know the way to try and tackle this period /life, in general, is to accept what you can control and learn how to let the rest just happen."
Dallen offered five key pieces of advice he thought everyone should heed in their lives, including remembering "the privilege of life" even during the darkest moments,
Other points included "being vulnerable and connecting to others" and making the effort to "check your privilege".
He also pointed readers towards one of his favourite charities, Trekstock, which supports young people with cancer. The Daily Mail reports that since the post was published, over £12,000 (NZ$23,000) has been raised.
His sister Annabel told the Guardian that Dallen had passed away days after the last post appeared on his blog.
"Because of the timing of things, it meant that people from across the world were wishing Elliot well as he was going, which is a quite a nice thing to think," she said.
