Woman announces own death on LinkedIn

HR professional from Leeds says she is suffering from rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer

Daniella Thackray’s family posted final message on her behalf after she died from cancer (Facebook/ Daniella Thackray)

A 25-year-old British woman announced her death from cancer on LinkedIn in a pre-written final message as she urged her fiancé to “go enjoy life”.

In her final message to her loved ones, Daniella Thackray, 25, an HR professional from Leeds, said she was suffering from a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer, known as cholangiocarcinoma.

“If you’re reading this then it means I have died from my battle with cancer and my family are posting my final message on my behalf,” began the post published on LinkedIn last Friday.

“So with that being said, although we can’t control what happens to us, we can control how we react. I chose not to mourn the life I was losing despite being so devastated, but to instead enjoy every moment I had left,” wrote the young woman.

“I LOVED my life,” she declared in a post that has since racked up more than 38,000 likes and nearly 3,000 comments. “Everything I had achieved was what I wanted. I loved my job, my fiancé, my family, my friends and my dog, and the house we were going to buy and the future we were making for ourselves,” she wrote.

The post was accompanied by a black an white picture of herself with her dog – her “fur baby” Leo – on a beach. She thanked Leo for helping her “brighten my darkest days”.

The post ended with a poignant quote from Winnie the Pooh!

“If ever there is a tomorrow when we’re not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.”

In an ode to her partner Tom she said: “I love you and always will. Thank you for supporting me and bringing so much love and happiness into my life. Go enjoy your life now, you deserve it.”

She first posted about her cancer about seven months ago after her Liver resection and gallbladder surgery. “I know that for many, health and well-being can be a difficult topic to bring up in the workplace, but I can’t thank my team enough for the support they’ve given me so far on my cancer journey,” she wrote, sharing pictures of herself from the hospital ward.

According to the National Cancer Institute, cholangiocarcinoma is rare form of bile duct cancer that “on average, it affects fewer than six in 100,000 people around the world”.

While most people do not have symptoms at the start, when the tumor gets larger, symptoms can include yellow skin and eyes (jaundice), itching, unintentional weight loss and abdominal pain.