EVEN as Michelle Cockbain was fighting the breast cancer that would eventually claim her life, she was determined to improve outcomes for others facing the disease.
Her sister-in-law Ainslie Turner said Mrs Cockbain would do "anything to help".
"She was just such a good person," Mrs Turner said.
"During her challenges it was never about her, she always made it about the other person and was always doing things for other people.
"She was so sick but never complained, ever.
"She's a gem, an absolute gem."
Mum-of-four Mrs Cockbain received her cancer diagnosis on September 5, 2018, one year and one week before she died aged 49 on September 19, 2019.
She asked friends - Mrs Turner, Jade Gallaway, Tracey Clouten, Neisha Shepherd, Diana Abrams, Lindsey Lewer, Marian Green and Abby Crawford - last April to form the Maitland Loves Your Sister committee.
She wanted to hold a gala ball for around 200 people and raise $100,000 for actor Samuel Johnson's Love Your Sister charity, for research into targeted treatments.
"It's all she wanted," Mrs Turner said.
"She didn't want anyone else to go down the path she had to go down.
"So much happened to her that was not right in terms of her cancer treatment.
"Hindsight is an amazing thing, but you can't take time back when you don't have time."
Mrs Turner said Mrs Cockbain attended one meeting before her health deteriorated. There was no question the committee would proceed, to honour her memory and reach her target.
"I'm big into keeping promises," Mrs Turner said. "Cancer has affected so many people and there was so much within the committee in terms of camaraderie and comprehension of what cancer does to families.
"The only way to get through losing someone so special is to pull together, or it tears you apart.
"Doing what she did gave us all a purpose, otherwise it would have been so easy to drop your bundle.
"She knew what she was doing - if she hadn't pulled us together as a committee it would have been a very different journey after we lost her."
The 550 tickets to the May 23 ball went on sale last December and sold out in 30 minutes, raising $84,000.
When the committee had to make the difficult decision in April this year to cancel the event due to COVID-19, it offered refunds, but asked those who were financially able to donate all or part of the price of the $180 ticket.
More than half obliged, raising $43,000.
This sum, plus other money collected through donations and fundraising initiatives, meant the committee exceeded Mrs Cockbain's target and as of Monday, have raised $102,366.75.
"I'm eternally grateful for the support we had," Mrs Turner said.
""It's a testament to who she was.
"I kept hoping we'd get to that number. People would say 'Do you seriously think you're going to get that?' and I'd say 'I don't know, but we're going to give it a red hot go'."
She said the committee's bond couldn't be replicated.
"We are all so different and did not even know each other in quite a lot of cases," she said.
"But she handpicked us to get the job done.
"She did it in such a way that when she got sick and we lost her, we stuck together.
"In my lifetime I've never been on a committee where the person leading the charge is no longer there when you finish the race.
"We all miss her."
