"It was once a medical disease that could end fatally.”
Sara Bennett shared what will be her final message with her followers.
On Jan. 13, the Instagram influencer and mom of two took to Instagram to announce her own death with a simple, yet powerful message as she reflected on the life she lived three years after her ALS diagnosis.
“I am not in pain, or tired. I can laugh, talk, and I can move,” she wrote in the caption.
“Reflecting in my last few months of my life, I am glad I didn’t go suddenly even WITH the suffering. I finished my list,” she added.
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Bennett, who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in March 2023, according to People, had been open about her battle with the disease on Instagram.
She was 39 at the time of her death.
“Even if you don’t believe in any thing, I am feeding the earth, and my tree. I loved this life, and am grateful for the time,” she continued in her post.
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is “a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord,” per The ALS Association.
The disease causes a person’s brain to lose connection with the muscles in their body, slowly taking away their ability to walk, talk, dress, write, eat, swallow and, eventually, breathe.
The average life expectancy once diagnosed with ALS is three years, per The ALS Association.
Sara Bennett wrote letters for her sons before her death
Bennett leaves behind her husband, Rusty, and their two sons, Lincoln, 9, and William, 7.
On Nov. 5, the mom of two shared photos from one of the two scrapbooks she made for her two sons — and the pages were filled with her words of wisdom and encouragement as they grow up without her.
The scrapbook included messages about friendships, politics, dating, happiness and other life lessons.
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“Every time I say goodbye I feel so parental - like, “Bye! Go do big things, have fun and be good!” she wrote in the caption of her post.
“But really… in all seriousness, I hope you keep having big moments of joy, and be really loud about it. I am so glad we had each other. I don’t want to leave you, but my spirit is done with this body,” she added.
In an interview with TODAY.com, published Oct. 14, Bennett shared that she also wrote a series of letters for her two sons.
“I wrote them letters for special days because I asked people who had lost parents what they wanted most from them,” Bennett said at the time. “I’d write a sentence and sob.”
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“But little by little, sometimes at 3 a.m., I wrote them,” she continued. “For weddings, pregnancies, graduations, the first and last day of school. I even wrote one for a grandchild I may never have.”
