The best way to honor a lost loved one is to make sure their legacy lives on.
Brendan Maguire wanted to be remembered for the important things, like his passion for traveling and love for his family. He never wanted to be defined by the disease that took his life. The 29-year-old passed away in April 2019, two months after learning he had a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer.
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The day of his diagnosis, Brendan shared his feelings with his wife Lauren. They’d exchanged vows just four months earlier. From that moment on, Lauren made another vow. Brendan would be memorialized through what made him happy. She turned her husband’s face into stickers to be left around the world in celebration of his adventurous spirit.
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Whenever Lauren travels, she takes a sticker as “a small reminder that Brendan is always with us.” Brendan’s friends and family do the same, sticking them up in their favorite places and snapping photos in remembrance.
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Lauren keeps track of where the stickers have gone in a beautiful tribute to his life. Scrolling through the Instagram account @wherebrendansbeen, you can see Brendan’s face has made it all the way from Alaska to Maine and as far as Argentina, the Azores, and even up Japan’s Mt. Fuji!
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In Texas, Brendan attended a Maggie Rogers concert, then visited the home turf of the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
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He ascended the stairs of Colorado’s Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater.
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And he even became the guest of honor at a wedding, bringing his infectious energy to everyone on the dance floor.
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The project has become everything Lauren has hoped it would, though she says it’s evolved into something bigger.
“In addition to remembering our favorite guy, our goal with these stickers is that someday, someone who needs a little encouragement, will randomly see one and be reminded to live life to the fullest. We know Brendan did,” she wrote.
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Brendan may no longer be with us, but his adventures have only just begun. You can keep up with the project on Instagram and request stickers to take with you on your own travels! Rest in peace, Brendan. And thanks, Lauren, for ensuring the best parts of him will never be forgotten.
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