Emily Lahey has taken part in a poignant installation to highlight the ongoing need for cancer research
A woman living with terminal cancer has auctioned off three-minute slots of her precious remaining time in a profound living art exhibition raising money – and awareness – for cancer research.
Emily Lahey, 32, from Melbourne in Australia, was given nine months to live after she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive NUT carcinoma in 2019.
Access to cutting-edge treatment in the US, which is not available in Australia, has so far given Lahey an unexpected three years of life.
Now she has taken part in the Australian Cancer Research Foundation’s (ACRF) groundbreaking installation, Time to Live, which saw 30 people take turns to sit with Lahey while an imposing digital timer counted off the seconds from three minutes to zero.
It’s time to live. Be present, make the most of it, because it can’t be bought, it can’t be saved
Carly Du Toit, head of fundraising and marketing at ACRF, said: “We hope this idea helps highlight the continued need for backing brilliant research that could give those impacted by cancer, like Emily and her loved ones, the gift of the most precious thing we desire – more time.”
Besides raising funds, the exhibition offered a unique and fleeting opportunity to grasp the emotional and psychological weight of a terminal cancer diagnosis.
For Lahey, it also served as a poignant reminder to make the most of a priceless resource we often take for granted. “I hope it allows [people] to see life with a slightly different perspective,” she told Australian TV show, The Sunday Project.
“It’s time to live. Be present, make the most of it, because it can’t be bought, it can’t be saved. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.”
Image: Australian Cancer Research Foundation
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