Holly Butler of Australia recently died of Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of cancer, but she was able to live a year longer thanks to blood donations, and her heartfelt letter has since gone viral. In the letter, which was written not long before her death, she encouraged people to donate blood because it can not only save a life, but even extend ones like hers.

Butcher, who died at the age of 27, wrote that people should “do a good deed for humanity” and “start regularly donating blood,” a call to action that was echoed by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. The blood donations allowed her some extra time to enjoy with her family, her friends, and her dog, she said, giving her “some of the greatest times of my life.”

Cancer patients often need blood because during chemotherapy, the body is not able to create its own blood cells as it normally does. Cancer patients in fact make up a far greater percentage of blood receipients that road trauma victims.

An excerpt from Butcher’s letter is published below.

A bit of life advice from Hol:

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- most likely caused by the beautiful family (lots of kiddies) I planned on building with the love of my life. I want that so bad it hurts.

That’s the thing about life; It is fragile, precious and unpredictable and each day is a gift, not a given right.

I’m 27 now. I don’t want to go. I love my life. I am happy.. I owe that to my loved ones. But the control is out of my hands.

I haven’t started this ‘note before I die’ so that death is feared – I like the fact that we are mostly ignorant to it’s inevitability.. Except when I want to talk about it and it is treated like a ‘taboo’ topic that will never happen to any of us.. That’s been a bit tough. I just want people to stop worrying so much about the small, meaningless stresses in life and try to remember that we all have the same fate after it all so do what you can to make your time feel worthy and great, minus the bullshit.

I have dropped lots of my thoughts below as I have had a lot of time to ponder life these last few months. Of course it’s the middle of the night when these random things pop in my head most!

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. Be grateful for your minor issue and get over it. It’s okay to acknowledge that something is annoying but try not to carry on about it and negatively effect other people’s days.

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.