real life

"Thank you, Terminally Fabulous, for sharing your life with us."

At 11.50pm on Saturday night, Terminally Fabulous blogger Lisa Magill passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family. She was only 34.

Her mum, Geraldine, shared the bittersweet news on Lisa’s Facebook page.

“Lisa’s passing was so peaceful, slipping away in her sleep without pain nor fear, just as we’d all prayed for and more importantly just as Lisa had wanted it,” she wrote.

“Her wee room was calmly lit with her rock lamp, her music had been playing and we’d held her hand and talked to her throughout the day, I just knew it was time.”

In 2013, Lisa was diagnosed with undifferentiated gastric sarcoma and told that she might only have weeks to live.

"We'd held her hand and talked to her throughout the day, I just knew it was time." Image via Facebook.

Four years later Lisa started her blog to show "the good, the bad and the ugly' sides of cancer.

Since then, she has shared the most harrowing, heartbreaking and beautiful moments of her life with her tens of thousands of social media followers.

Lisa and her family have opened up their lives and shared their struggles, their triumphs, their private pain.

They've been open and honest about the small moments of hope they've experienced and the devastating blows they were dealt.

They've shown us the heartbreaking reality of living and dying with cancer. The ups and downs. The heartrending feeling of being stuck in limbo when someone you love is fading away but is not quite ready to let go.

In doing so, they have given us an enormous gift.

They have opened our eyes so that we can begin to understand what cancer does to a person, and to the people who love them.

They have demonstrated living and dying with cancer is so much more devastating and all-consuming than we could ever imagine.

The Magills have shown us there is no rhyme or reason, no Hollywood endings.

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Most of all, they have proven to us that no one 'loses their battle' to cancer, because it was never a fair fight to begin with.

On February 24, Lisa wrote her last blog post titled 'Is this really living?'. In it, she spoke about how cancer is indiscriminate; it doesn't care how young you are or whether you're a good person.

Cancer can happen to anyone. It can tear into your life, taking away your best years, your happily ever afters, leaving the people who love you absolutely devastated. It makes no sense.

Lisa was dying and she was still asking why. Last week, she shared a heartbreaking video update from her hospital bed.

"I am in pain as I speak, my chest is hurting, my stomach hurts... everything basically hurts. I'm so weak I can't actually stand up out of my own bed," she wrote.

Listen: Emma Betts is 25 years old and planning her own funeral. (Post continues after audio.)

"I just wanted to let you know that I love you all, and without you I wouldn't still be here. You kept me going and you gave me strength. Stay fabulous."

On Saturday, Lisa and her family made the tough decision to give her palliative sedation. She spent her last hours on earth sleeping peacefully with her family and friends by her bedside. She was comfortable for the first time in six months, with her favourite music playing in the background, and the people she loved guiding her through her last hours.

In her Facebook post, Geraldine thanked Lisa's followers for their support: "The outpouring of love you have all shown has given us so much comfort on the toughest of days. We fully understand what Lisa was in awe of you all. You have been our rock and we will be eternally grateful".

In return we'd like to say thank you, Lisa, Geraldine and family, for sharing your story with us.

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