- Linda Murphy from Massachusetts died at 60 after a three-year battle with Bulbar ALS
- She wrote her own obituary, chose her casket, funeral music, and planned a dance party
- Murphy lost her ability to speak a year before her death due to Bulbar ALS complications
A US woman has become a viral sensation after her death, having penned a tongue-in-cheek self-obituary. Linda Murphy from Massachusetts died at 60 following a three-year battle with Bulbar ALS. Apart from writing her own obituary, Murphy also picked out her own casket, chose the music at her funeral, and planned a dance party in her own honour.
"Well, if you are reading this obituary, it looks like I'm dead. WOW, it actually happened. I died of FOMO due to complications of Bulbar ALS," Murphy wrote in the obituary published by the funeral home.
"My name is Linda Brossi Murphy, and I was just 60 years old when I died...way too young! As the saying goes, I 'died peacefully while surrounded by loved ones.' I was loved, comforted, and hugged until my last breath by my beautiful family and a couple of my besties!"
Murphy had been unable to speak for about a year owing to her condition, and wrote the obituary six months ago when she could still type with her hands. By the end, she could only sign a few hand signals. She wrote about that trapped feeling in her obituary.
"My stupid Bulbar ALS got me to the sad point of not being able to talk. Never speaking means never being able to say, 'I love you!' It means not being able to call my Mr. BoJangles over for a snack, and it means not being able to order at the Dunkin' drive through," she wrote.
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'My two superpowers'
Murphy, who was raised in Framingham and lived in Boylston, praised her husband of 42 years, David, and her children as the "absolute best thing about my life" while she reflected on those she was leaving behind.
"My family has been amazing and the absolute best thing about my life. These peeps have filled my heart to overflowing levels!" she wrote, adding: "My favourite pastime was being with my family & friends, hence why FOMO did me in! I also adored having fun, anytime, anywhere! No matter what I was doing, I had fun. I was a very happy person to the core."
Murphy said she possessed two superpowers: perpetual happiness and the ability to avoid a hangover, no matter how much she drank.
"My first, of which everyone was jealous, was that I could drink as much as I wanted and never seemed to get a hangover, the real wonder is why I didn't die of liver failure. My second superpower is that I was always genuinely happy and absolutely loved to be with nice people."
