What is Ewing's sarcoma? Heartbreaking final words of woman who died of rare cancer goes viral

A heartbreaking letter penned by a dying 27-year-old Australian woman has gone viral after her death in the first week of January. Holly Butcher lost her battle with Ewing's sarcoma, an extremely rare form of cancer, and left a letter to be shared on her Facebook account after she was gone.

Ewing's sarcoma is a type of tumour that forms in bones or soft tissues. The signs and symptoms of this form of cancer include swelling and pain near the tumour, and is most common in adolescents and young adults.

Ewing's sarcoma has also been called peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour, and can be found in the form of Askin tumour (Ewing's sarcoma of the chest wall), extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma (Ewing's sarcoma in tissues and not bones) and Ewing's sarcoma family of tumours.

Butcher began her Facebook post by talking about the sudden realisation of accepting your mortality at a young age.

She wrote, "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."

Butcher revealed that she did not "want to go", but lamented the fact that life was not in her control. "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."

She also urged everyone to stop worrying about the meaningless things in life. "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."

The inspiring post has been shared more than 72,000 times and garnered more than 51,000 likes since its upload.

Butcher continued, "You might have got caught in bad traffic today, or had a bad sleep because your beautiful babies kept you awake, or your hairdresser cut your hair too short. Your new fake nails might have got a chip, your boobs are too small, or you have cellulite on your arse and your belly is wobbling.

"Let all that s**t go. I swear you will not be thinking of those things when it is your turn to go," she wrote on her deathbed.

"I'm watching my body waste away right before my eyes with nothing I can do about it and all I wish for now is that I could have just one more birthday or Christmas with my family, or just one more day with my partner and dog. Just one more."

She concluded her post by asking everyone to do a good deed for community and donate blood. "Oh, and one last thing, if you can, do a good deed for humanity (and myself) and start regularly donating blood. It will make you feel good with the added bonus of saving lives. I feel like it is something that is so overlooked considering every donation can save 3 lives! That is a massive impact each person can have and the process really is so simple."