A sudden chill gripped my heart, as words of dread were spoken. They left behind an empty place, as my heart it was broken. It cannot be, say it's not so, I want to rail, I want to shout, without you in my life I fear, the sun has gone out. Dedicated to the memory of Helen MacDonald. Helen was a bundle of fun who brightened up a room just by standing in it. She encouraged me to keep doing my attempts at art, and scolded me for not becoming a vendor. She took great joy in viewing my latest attempts, and had a hidden collection of my work that I discovered on Monday. Helen bravely fought tooth and nail, firstly with breast cancer, then with cancer throughout her body that had rapidly spread within the space of a couple of months of her last check up, just as she was about to be given the final all clear. She was determined to live a normal life, and continued working until the start of April, until she developed an infection and had to be persuaded that she should have the time off to help her fight the infection. Helen was a collegue, a friend and to me like a big sister. On the 28th April in the early hours she lost her final battle. Inspirational and heroine are words that are so easily bandied about these days for non entities who have their 15 minutes. 15 minutes in Helens company gave a joy of life that these "inspirations" would have to strive a dozen lifetimes to equal. Rest in peace Helen xx