Rachael Thorpe has brain cancer and three things on her bucket list: to raise $50,000 for charity, to renew her vows with her husband every year that she is alive, and to put a street library on every corner in Canberra.

When her tumours were first found last year, Rachael sat down and began to write a list of things to do before she died.

"I sat there and I did the whole, 'Well I'll go to Tuscany, I'll swim with turtles … but I thought, you know what, nobody is going to remember that,'" she said.

After Ms Thorpe and her neighbour decided to turn an old fridge into a communal library for her street, she realised it was a way to find community for people feeling isolated.

"I've always read, I've always loved reading, and … I think that the books can connect communities," she said.

"Street libraries can allow people to meet up, particularly people who can't get out and about to actual libraries or actual book shops."

Final chapter full of passion

The initial diagnosis was a time of "blackness" for Ms Thorpe and her husband John.

The tumours cause her incredible pain, daily headaches, loss of vision and balance, and she now walks with a cane.

But her mission to get a street library into every suburb by the end of next year has given her passion.

"I think words connect people, [and] it's become even more important to me, in terms of words, as I feel I'm losing words, I'm not remembering words," she said.

"It's just become a real passion to share that love [of words] with other people, as I feel it trickling away."

Rachael and her neighbour picked up an old fridge online and turned it into a safe and colourful communal bookshelf for their north Canberra neighbourhood. ( Supplied )

Ms Thorpe's 'Bizzy bee' library sits proudly outside her home in Florey, in Canberra's north, and she has already won another six for Belconnen funded through a community grant.

She has already made close to $10,000 for various brain tumour charities, too.

There are more complications ahead for Ms Thorpe.

Because her cancer is so rare, there are no neurosurgeons in Australia who are skilled in operating on it, so she will have to travel to the only expert clinic in the world, in the US, for an operation.

It means she and John will be away from their family for the risky surgery.

But she maintains her optimism.

"Life is short and you just need to embrace it," she said.

"People often ask what my prognosis is — I don't know, I haven't asked."