On Friday, Love Your Sister’s Connie Johnson died from breast cancer at just 40 years old. She was a wife, a sister, a friend, and a mum to her two boys, Willoughby, 11, and Hamilton, 10.

Connie has left behind an amazing legacy, a huge community of supporters and two young boys who know exactly how much their mum loved them and just how hard it was for her to let them go.

Before she died, Connie often spoke about how she just hoped she would live until her boys were old enough to remember her.

“I find my peace by spending time with my family, by living in a way that I would be proud of my kids remembering,” the mum-of-two said in a TedX speech in Brisbane in 2014.

“I love them, and I always will, and I’m not leaving them willingly.”

Connie also offered some advice to all the parents out there who sometimes feel like they're missing out on the most important years of their children's lives.

"Why wait to be told that you're dying to start living?," she said. "I challenge you - have a pillow fight, dance in the rain and jump in puddles, listen to a genre of music you've never experienced before, travel to or read about faraway places, grab your partner and kiss them passionately.

"Tell your children that you love them, connect with your inner child, look up at the clouds and find the shapes of animals, look down at the pavement and don't step on the cracks.

"Learn a language, or martial arts, or how to swim or how to build. Meet new people, pick up a phone or a pen and a piece of paper and reach out to someone you've lost touch with and build a bridge.

"Volunteer locally or abroad, turn the TV off, plant a tree, howl at a full moon, don't be afraid, life is there to be lived."

In May this year, Connie and the Love Your Sister community created the world's longest line of coins and raised $2.2 million for breast cancer research at the Garvan Institute.

Our thoughts are with Willoughby, Hamilton, Mike, Samuel and all of Connie's friends and loved ones.

While Connie Johnson's spirit and strength of purpose was rare, breast cancer is not. To help further her cause, please donate to Love My Sister here.

LISTEN: How Samuel Johnson Found His Happiness.

To read more about Connie Johnson, click here. 

To read more about parenting, click here. 

To read more about family, click here.