I met M when we were having chemo at the same time in 2011. I was 38, she 41. We became pals and we went through surgery and radiotherapy together. She was a very loud person, whereas I’m quiet. We just bonded and I met her husband and 3 small children, she met my family too. We went on trips to the park and to garden centres , I visited her in hospital loads of times, as it turned out, she never stopped fighting her cancer–it returned again and again, first in the other breast, then as skin mets, then lung, then brain.
Her final wishes were a bucket list ,included feeding sharks ( achieved ) and skydiving (not achieved ). A fund was set up on facebook for her which raised a lot of money and paid for her funeral in the end.
Her final months were about being very loud and bright, she wore multi-coloured wigs and even got the ambulance crew to wear them, as they transported her to a local hospice once a week. She would wear different coloured shoes on each foot.
It was M’s funeral today. People turned up in different shoes, and wearing bright colours.
She had a pink coffin and was in a horse-drawn cart, the white horses wore pink feathers.
The crematorium was packed, there was not a spare seat.
Afterwards in the gardens, her husband and children all released a white dove. The horses and the doves were M’s wishes. She was 46 years old.
I will miss my amazing friend.