Last Sunday evening, my sister’s two year battle with cancer ended and she entered rest. She had just passed 41 and is survived by her husband and beloved dog, Magnes.

I held back sharing about her illness during it as I knew she would not like me to. She wanted to carry on living as she had prior to her diagnosis and she did so in impressive fashion.

She carried on working closing out a regular 9-5-5 the week before her passing; not because she felt she had to, but because she loved her work and the benefit it made to the world around her. She continued to travel, revisiting many of her favourite spots including staying in a Finnish ice hotel and a tour of Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans.

But her illness did lead her to some changes. She brought together her menagerie of friends she had gathered from different areas of life. Where she would have previously met up with each individually, they became a support group for each other as my sister continued to live her life with no regrets.

“I won’t let this make me sad.” She told my mother, weeks before she passed “I’ve lived a great life, with a wonderful husband and I love my work. What more could I ask for?”

I wish she had asked for a couple more days, so I’d had the chance to hear her voice one last time when I came to say goodbye.“It’s not fair.” I kept thinking last weekend, and the universe isn’t. Cancer took my sister before her time, but she still lived with no regrets.

I will do my best to do the same now.

Rest in peace; rise in glory.