News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. Here the founder of the CoppaFeel! Myself, Lisa and Fran β another cancer blogger β had planned the day out to raise a toast to our friend Ellie, who died from the disease in Worried about breast cancer? But Fran had a hospital appointment that day and we never made it happen.
Sadly, Lisa passed away before we had the chance then Fran died soon after. So when I received a phone call from a BBC producer last June asking about the day out, I was surprised to say the least.
Before cancer, she had been a successful magazine editor and in December had married Pete, the love of her life. She opened her laptop and started to diary it all to make sense of that world. Her blog attracted more than , hits and was turned into a book, The C-Word. There were no awkward silences, we just talked and talked. She was warm and funny⦠and normal! She was just trying to figure out her life.
She knew about my charity and we talked about projects. But when we got together after her secondary diagnosis in β when the disease has spread to other parts of your body β she knew it was probably going to cut her life short and that she would never start a family. Knowing them certainly helped me. She was thrilled when she accepted. Lisa been working very closely with the writer and producer but she died one month before the green light was given for the programme.
I was surrounded by professionals and Sheridan Smith is my absolute hero. I love her work. I spent a day reading through the script with the producer and director and they were so lovely and patient with me. We re-wrote it a little bit as they wanted to make it as authentic as possible. But I soon started welling up. What you saw was a lot of ad-libbing. We needed to follow the script but essentially it was three girls having a laugh on the beach.
