Today, as Final Fling is in wind-down mode, a user based in New York, Fiona, shares how the site helped her sister when she was dying.
There was something about the very name Final Fling that encapsulated Julie’s approach to her “bonus years”.
Fiona, Julie’s sister
“My younger sister, Julie, introduced me to Final Fling. She had ‘life- limiting’ ovarian cancer and wanted to make the most of her precious time. There was something about the very name Final Fling that encapsulated Julie’s approach to her “bonus years”. The description under her photo on the website read “Living life to the full”.
The magic of Final Fling
“Of course, on Final Fling you could save important documents, like Wills. This helped to keep Julie’s affairs in order. But this wasn’t the magic of Final Fling!
“The pages on Final Fling included “memory box”. Final Fling gave her a repository for important photos, memories and letters to be saved to view after her death. I believe it gave Julie ideas!
Recipes and memories
“One day, when she was ill and I was with her, she said that she had kept the recipe for ginger biscuits that the two of us used to make together as children during the school holidays when our parents were working. We could make, bake and eat the batch in under an hour! We recreated this experience (except for the rapid consumption!).
Reading to unmet grandchildren
“She also recorded a moving 5-minute video reading the book “Guess how much I love you” by Sam McBratney. It was a favourite of her children and although she never explicitly said this, I think she was looking to a future where her children had children and where these grandchildren could get still get a story from Granny.
Tools for life
“Julie’s Final Fling photo was taken in the Isle of Wight. It was a weekend holiday where we both learned about Mindfulness. Again, I think Julie must have been thinking about the future and how she could help to create the memories and tools for life that would live with us forever. This holiday also gave us the opportunity to play crazy golf! We enjoyed fierce competition, just as we had as children.
The little things are the big things
“Julie taught me that the little things in life are actually the big things. Final Fling understood how precious these little things are.”
I’m so grateful to Fiona for sharing this moving and inspiring account of the spirit of her sister in facing her mortality.
It’s a wonderful reward for me, hearing about Final Fling in action, serving its purpose. It’s been a 10 year mission to imagine and design this website, to share it and keep it running while I do the day job. With this one example, I think – job done.