Jade Goody

When I watched Jade Goody on Big Brother, and then saw her shock the nation with her comments to the indian actress Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother, I never thought I would say I would be in awe and admiration of Jade Goody.

However I am in awe and admiration of Jade Goody. Someone once said you see what people are made of when trouble hits. Well Jade Goody has inspired me these past weeks since it was made clear that the cancer she was battling with was terminal. The agressive cancer had started in her cervix and then spread to her liver, groin and bowel. Without question she has inspired a new generation of young women to take cancer seriously and to get screened. As Cancer Research put it "she has done a great public service by raising the importance of screening".

Like the late Pope, John Paul II, Jade Goody has lived and indeed lived out her death live before the world. In doing so, she has shown courage, fortitude, guts and sheer peace. As she stared death in the face, the world watched as she got her affairs in order, and put the financial arrangements in place for her little boys. I watched her wedding on tv, and found myself deeply moved by her sheer gutsy determination. She was a remarkable person, and I have prayed for her these past weeks. I was struck by her desire to be married, and to have both herself and her little boys baptised.

Today, on Mothers Day, Jade has passed away. My thoughts and prayers are with Jack her husband, and her boys Bobby (5) and Freddie (4). I am sure they had their mothers cards ready for her. I hope today those little boys know how proud their mum was of them... and they should be very very proud of her.