Maren Sheldon, twin sister of the late breast cancer campaigner Chris Halenga, says, “She looked like she was walking on clouds that day.”

Maren remembers the “living funeral” her sister held at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall last year.

For the occasion, Chris wore a sequin top with “Yodo” written on the back – You Only Die Once – and earrings in the shape of the poo emoji – a nod to her published handbook for life titled “Glittering a Turd”. Does.

Guests wore glittering sequins, a 20-piece orchestra raised the roof and Don French – as Dibley’s pastor – delivered a sermon at the lectern.

You can write your beautiful thoughts about Chris on the cardboard coffin and have a toy cat help you out with a hug – just like Chris relied on his cat, Lady Marmalade, for comfort.

After the speeches, there was a disco, party and tequila shots.

“It was amazing, as she said, it was the best day of her life,” Maren recalls.

“I think a lot of people say their weddings are the best days of their lives, or the days their children are born. He had none of these opportunities in his life, so I guess his ‘funeral’ was for him that day.

“She was very happy at that time and very well too. I’m so glad he chose to do this before he became unwell.”

Scenes from the occasion are shown in a new BBC2 documentary: Living Every Second: The Chris Halenga Story – airs October 1,

Chris died in May this year at the age of 38. She was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer 15 years ago and founded the breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel with Maren.

The charity encouraged young people to check their breasts and ran a campaign to introduce cancer awareness into the school curriculum.

At the age of 22, Chris went to the GP for what she described as a “kinky boob”, but was told it was nothing to worry about and could be hormonal. When she was finally diagnosed a year later, the cancer had already spread to her spine. Later he also developed brain tumor.

Her late diagnosis made Chris determined to prevent this from happening to anyone else. Maren says CoppaFeel was her greatest achievement and her message continues to save lives every day.

Maren says Chris wanted people to focus on everything he had achieved in those 38 years. “It changed the language we use about cancer and made it more accessible and less scary,” she adds.

“She was a beacon of hope for a lot of people, especially those with secondary diagnoses,” says Maren.

“I think she was an anomaly because she lived for 15 years. But it is not impossible. I guess even if you don’t get 15 years, he said life is in the years you have and don’t waste a moment on things that don’t create happiness.

Maren says that although awareness of breast cancer has improved and society has become more open to talking about our bodies, the problem hasn’t gone away.

“The truth is that it is a treatable disease, but it has to be caught at a treatable stage.”

Marin is now living a new life without Chris, which she says has made her realize how dependent she was on her sister and how much she needed her.

She is currently in the process of organizing an exhibition in East London about the story of Chris and Coppafeel.

Maren says that Chris left it up to her to decide what would happen to his body after he died.

She adds, “I think partly the reason I decided to be cremated is that I could spread his (ashes) all over the place, which would be important for him, for us, and for other people.” It meant a lot to me.”

One day, after hosting a dinner with some friends to honor Chris and the courageous conversations he had, Maren spontaneously felt it was the right time to spill some of them.

“We were going to get into the sea, because that’s what we always do – we live in Cornwall and we love getting into the sea – and that was already part of the plan.”

She asked her friends how they felt about “taking a little shot glass of Chris with me into the ocean”, which everyone wanted to do.

Maren says Chris has always felt at home at sea.

“It was really great to have him with us when we did that.”

Life is like the ocean, in many ways, sometimes it can be rough, sometimes peaceful and tranquil. But it’s Chris who summed up the beauty of living every second of it, in a speech he gave to the congregation at his “funeral.”

Chris said, “You see the thing about death, it’s very final, whereas life – life is full of opportunities. So let’s take advantage of these opportunities, live fully, love deeply and enjoy today.” Count the days.”

Living Every Second: The Chris Halenga Story It will be broadcast on Tuesday 1 October at 21:00 BST on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

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