Jackie Collins’s final letter to her readers sees the late novelist urge her fans to get regular mammograms – and to live life “to the fullest, as tomorrow is not promised to any of us”.
The letter has just been published on Collins’s website, more than two weeks after the bestselling writer died of breast cancer, aged 77. Collins had kept her illness a secret from almost everyone, only telling her sister, the actor Joan Collins, two weeks before she died.
“As you may have recently heard, I revealed that I have been LIVING life to the fullest with stage 4 breast cancer for the past six and a half years. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, my message is this: Early detection can save lives! Get regular mammograms, and/or tell your loved ones too,” Collins told her readers in her last letter.
She added that “cancer does not have to be a death sentence”, and that “you, or someone you love, can live an extraordinary life regardless”.
“Be kind and be grateful. Never underestimate the power of your mind. Embrace what you love, and LIVE life to the fullest, as tomorrow is not promised to any of us,” she wrote. “Whatever your pain or struggle in life, don’t allow it to turn you into a victim … let your battle turn you into someone else’s hero!”
Collins, who sold over 500 million copies of her novels, ranging from The Stud to Lucky, also announced that 20% of sales from her self-published ebooks would go to the breast cancer charity Susan G Komen for the month of October.
“I’m off to keep writing,” she finished. “Stay healthy, stay lucky and take chances!”
A member of Collins’s team, writing on her website, said the author’s wish to donate 20% of her sales would be honoured, adding that the author had chosen to reveal her cancer diagnosis to People Magazine in a September interview “with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month ... in the hopes of saving lives”.
“After returning to Los Angeles from her UK book tour to launch The Santangelos, she was eagerly anticipating the US/Canada ebook release of The Stud, and had written the following newsletter to include both announcements,” the announcement continues.
“Jackie was determined to live her life fully and without limitation. She wrote about strong women, because she was a strong woman, and believed that girls could do anything … she certainly did.”
