A woman who split with her husband and went on a 200 men sexcapade after being diagnosed with incurable cancer left a poignant final message to be shared after her death.
In 2005, US woman Molly Kochan visited a gynaecologist to raise concerns about a lump in her breast – only to be told that she was too young to have cancer.
Molly would later raise the concerns again with her doctor in 2011 after noticing the lump had grown. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, which had spread to her lymph nodes, and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, Molly's cancer story wouldn't end there as she later discovered the disease had spread to her bones, brain and liver in 2015 – meaning it was now incurable.
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Faced with her own mortality at the age of 42, Molly decided to spend the last few years of her life chasing pleasure.
She made the bold decision to separate from her husband, whom she had been going through couples therapy with, and went on a mission of 'seeking joy'.
Which in Molly's world, meant having sexual experiences with as many men as possible.
By the time Molly passed away in 8 March, 2019, she had engaged in sexual activity with 188 men. Her final moments were immortalised on social media and in her six-part podcast Dying For Sex, co-hosted with close friend Nikki Boyer, was later adapted into a series of the same name starring Michelle Williams as Kochan and Jenny Slate as Boyer.
She would also write a memoir titled Screw Cancer: Becoming Whole which was published posthumously.
This book and podcast weren't the only messages which Molly would leave her followers, with the 45-year-old also leaving a final blog post to be shared after her death.
What was Molly Kochan's final message?
Titled: 'I have died', the post referenced how most people's bucket lists will include things like quitting their job and travelling to exotic locations – things which Molly did not do with her final few years on Earth.
"I don’t have those kinds of life lessons to share," she wrote.
"I know what I did at the end of my life. I know what brought me joy. But my list would surely not affect you."
She went on to talk about friends who reached out after she announced her cancer diagnosis but was never able to meet up with, acknowledging that cancer was a disease not everyone wanted to be around.
"Through the drop ins and outs, I realised that people are going to do whatever they’re going to do regardless of what they want to want. Even me," she continued.
"Wasn’t that freeing? I didn’t have to buy tickets to Bora Bora, I could spend days in bed, even though I wanted to want to be productive."
She also spoke about her frustrations at not being able to complete projects as she grew weaker in the final months and accepted that some friends would be upset at her choice to surround herself with a 'small circle' in her final moments.
"But if you need to get pissed at me, go for it. I think I might if I read this note from a good friend who was suddenly not there," Molly concluded.
Read Molly's final post in full here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Topics: Cancer, Health, Podcast, Sex and Relationships, TV and Film
Brenna Cooper