News presenter and former Bachelorette Georgia Love has written an emotional open letter to her late mother, Belinda, a little over a year since she passed away from pancreatic cancer.
It was not long after Georgia could make her relationship with Bachelorette winner Lee Elliot public that her mother died at the age of 60 after a six-month battle with the disease.
Now, Georgia, who is an ambassador for the Pancare Foundation, has written an emotional open letter to her best friend for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
“Dear Mum,” the 29-year-old wrote for Mamamia.
“It’s been 391 days since you left. That’s 391 mornings of waking up with a knot in my stomach that I’ve now realised will probably never go away. Some days it takes it takes a little while to hit. You have those few moments of ignorant bliss before your mind catches up and reminds you your life has been indelibly changed.”
Georgia calls Belinda her best friend.
Georgia says that in the past year, her life has changed dramatically, and not just because she moved cities, changed jobs and got a boyfriend.
“It’s the gaping hole you have left that I really mean when I say my life’s changed, because that’s the one thing I know I will never, ever get used to.
“Everyone tells you it never gets easier. But the one thing I was never warned about is that it actually gets so much harder.”
Georgia later says that she’s struggling to find a positive in losing her mum.
“Losing you is the one thing I can’t find a positive in. I’ve tried to look for the lesson it’s given me but I just can’t see it. People have told me it’s made me stronger but I disagree. I feel the exact opposite.
“In losing you I lost my strength, my rock, the glue holding me and our family together,” she continues.
“There are days I’m really angry with you, I’m not going to lie. If it’s true that you’re always with me, you’ll know this already because there have been so many times I’ve yelled at you and cursed you out loud for leaving me.”
WATCH: Georgia tells Lee she loves him (story continues after video)
With a survival rate of seven per cent, Georgia says that she wished she’d known more about pancreatic cancer before Belinda had been diagnosed.
“But you know what? … Maybe life happened just as it was meant to. Maybe if I’d realised just how little time we’d have left with you, I wouldn’t have gone away for three months to film The Bachelorette. But then I wouldn’t have met Lee. And God knows I’ve needed him in this year that’s followed.
Georgia is now an ambassador for Pancare, helping raise awareness about the disease.
“I believe the reason my life led me to being on The Bachelorette at that exact point in time was not just to meet Lee, but to put me in a position where I could shed light on the taboo subject of pancreatic cancer, and promote the incredibly important and tireless work done by Pancare to help support families who are going through this battle,” she continued.
You can donate to Pancare here.
