The gift of life after being given 12 months to live

Why setting intentions and having something to look forward to helps in the hardest chapters

Helen created her first vision board at one of our client events at the beginning of 2025. A few months later, she was told she might only have twelve months to live.

That kind of news changes everything. It brings time into sharp focus. And yet every day Helen stood in front of the board she had framed and hung on her door, focusing on living today and planning for the future, with faith at the centre of it all.

She made a decision to make those months count.

At the beginning of 2026, Helen was back vision boarding with us again. She shared that she never imagined something so simple would become such an important part of her life. That small board became something to hold onto during one of the hardest chapters she has ever faced.

The power of seeing your future

One of the reasons we create vision boards with our clients is that they help us clarify what we are moving towards. When your future becomes visible, your focus shifts and you are reminded of where to place your energy and attention. During times of change, that clarity can become an anchor, and for Helen, it did exactly that.

Helen’s story

Helen has been living with cancer for several years. She was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2018 and went through chemotherapy. For a while, life settled again and things felt more normal.

But the cancer returned.

In 2022 doctors discovered a tumour on her aorta and she faced another six months of intensive treatment. That same year, just two months after finishing treatment, her husband passed away unexpectedly.

At the beginning of 2025 Helen received more difficult news. Doctors discovered another tumour, this time in her spleen, and she began chemotherapy again. It was during this chapter that she joined our vision board workshop and created her first vision board.

A few months later she was told she might only have twelve months to live.

With the help, support and facilitated tough conversations of her Planners, Craig and Heino, Helen began putting her affairs in order. But she also made a decision: she chose to focus on how she wanted to live. She made changes to her health, held onto her faith, and kept coming back to what mattered most, including the hope of seeing her daughter and her two granddaughters who live in Singapore.

Looking forward

Helen eventually had surgery to remove her spleen, and today she is cancer free.

When she shared her story at this year’s workshop, it wasn’t just what she had been through that stayed with us. It was her courage to come back, to sit in that room again, and share her experience.

There is something so powerful about coming together like this. You realise you are not doing this alone.

This year, Helen’s vision is captured in three simple words:

Live. Love. Laugh.

And there is one image on her board that means more than anything else: her daughter and her two granddaughters in Singapore. She wasn’t able to make that trip in 2025, but she is planning it now.

Our Gift to You

We don’t always get to choose what happens to us, but we do get to choose how we respond. Taking time to think about what still matters, what you still want to experience, and how you want to spend your time can change the way you move through even the most difficult chapters.

If you haven’t done this in a while, this may be a good moment to pause. We’ve created a Vision & Money Journal to help you reflect and turn your thinking into intention.

Download the Journal by clicking on this link.

Having something to look forward to is more powerful than we realise. It gives us direction, and sometimes, it gives us the strength to keep going when life feels uncertain.