Parting thoughts: Courage to live fully

Camille Scheel lived her life with inspiration, energy, and joy, despite living it with breast cancer. Scheel passed away on Aug. 26, 2017, at 48 years old.

Scheel worked for a number of years as a fundraiser for Twin Cities Public Television and at Minnesota Public Radio. She was a voracious reader, gifted musician and storyteller.

Scheel was 38 when she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Her two children were still very young. That was more than 10 years ago, and in the time since, she became a tireless advocate for people with cancer.

Telling her story was a big part of that.

"The world needs to understand what life is like not just someone who has cancer or has a disease that can be cured, but what it's like to live with a life-threatening disease and how does a person move on and embrace that knowledge," Scheel told MPR's Cathy Wurzer at her home last year.

Scheel told many stories in front of large audiences with the Moth. She even won a grand slam. She also wrote a book, called "Camp Chemo: Postcards Home from Metastatic Cancer".

Through her illness, Scheel came to appreciate just how important it is to live in the moment.

"I feel I have a much richer experience of day-to-day, moment-to-moment life than I used to," Scheel said. "My goals for life used to be so ambitious and so based on doing a good job at work, and volunteering, and taking care of my family, and planning for the future, and now my focus is really on what do I have in this moment."

She also came to appreciate death as a completion of life.

"I don't have this sense that when I die I won't feel that somehow I failed or the disease would have won," Scheel said. "Healing is sometimes a part of healing the body, but sometimes death is the final act of healing."

Camille Scheel's family and friends have set up a memorial to help pay her medical debt.