"I want everyone to know, you don't have to find out you're dying to start living..." -Zach Sobiech

I woke up this morning to a number of posts on FaceBook relating to this video on UpWorthy and when I got the chance to watch it I was honestly blown away. Zach Sobiech is a 17 year old young man who passed away yesterday on May 20th, 2013 after living with terminal cancer since the age of 14. In this documentary he speaks of finding closure, of finding peace and he advocates for everyone to pursue one thing, to try and make people happier. What a lesson to learn and to teach in 17 years on this planet. There is such beauty captured in this 22 minute video, that I can only imagine what life was really like living with Zach as a brother, as a boyfriend, as a son, as a friend, how much of a presence he had in their lives and how much he left behind to help fill the void in absence.

I am left thinking about living life despite death and it is allowing me to reflect on a few of the more difficult moments during the past year and on a message I hope I have left behind. Too often we see things as black or white, as life or death. And I personally think that the choice is not between life or death, but is about life despite death, whatever that means for each individual. My frame of reference at this point in my life is cystic fibrosis, it is as many of you know, a chronic and life-limiting disease and just as in many other chronic diseases there comes a choice in end-stage disease to pursue more aggressive treatments or to (for lack of a better term) focus on quality of life. For Zach, who suffered from osteosarcoma, he had an option for surgery but this would have meant losing his leg and half of his pelvis and he would be left not even able to sit up, so his mother said at that point we began to focus on quality of life. In cystic fibrosis end stage disease leaves most individuals with the option to pursue lung transplant and too often I've heard that this is a choice between life and death. Too often I've heard if you want to life you have to get a transplant. I don't believe that. I believe more than anything that what you chose to do with your time and your body at any point in life, but particularly when suffering in end-stage disease, is a deeply personal decision, that perhaps no one but that individual can fully understand. It is not a flip of a coin decision, it is not for most an obvious decision either. My cousin Marissa, in her death, taught me one of the greatest lessons I think I will ever learn particularly for what I want to do with my life. Marissa was 27 years old when she died of complications from cystic fibrosis, she didn't choose lung transplant, instead she chose life despite death. And when she died, she was able to say that she had done more than she thought she ever would, and that she was happy. I only hope that we can all feel that on our death beds. Choosing lung transplant for many also means choosing life despite death, it can mean an opportunity to pursue bigger and better dreams, to do things you never thought you would be able to, or to spend more time with loved ones. In either case, in all cases, there is no right or wrong decision, and there is no choosing life or death.

Zach Sobiech's story teaches us, to live your life as you want it, live it with love, with a smile, and with the goal of making someone happier, maybe that someone is yourself, maybe it's a stranger on the bus, maybe it's a floor of hospital patients, or maybe it is your loved ones.
This young man's life is a testament to the human race and what individuals are capable of. Zach Sobiech, his friends and family, are an example of unconditional love, and a lesson on compassionate support and honest communication. His words and music, his life and story are a demonstration of empathy, love and beauty. I thank him for sharing his journey with the world. And believe that having heard his story will surely make all of us better people.