Two days before Christmas 2010 my girlfriend's mother got bad news from the hospital, she had advanced primary pancreatic cancer and numerous secondary cancers.

The prognosis was terminal and the level and number of cancers meant that there would be no effective treatment.

I helped make Christmas as good as it could for the family, helping with the cooking and generally trying to keep things on an even keel.

We all knew that the cancer was aggressive but I don't think anybody was really ready for the speed that things happened during January.

Monday the 24th I got a call from my girlfriend that her mum had a bad night and that she was being admitted into hospital to deal with a build-up of fluids in her abdomen. I took the rest of the week off work and took the train to be with the family. Tuesday and Wednesday she was uncomfortable but talkative and reactive, Thursday she started a decline and overnight slipped into a coma. I was at her bedside with her brother when she gently slipped away for good around 10pm Friday night.

This has left me a bit 'shell shocked' and flat feeling for life and I'm trying to pick up the get up and go feeling.

On Saturday I received the fantastic news that my good friend Toni's daughter had given birth to a daughter of her own that Friday night - talk about circle of life!!!

Hugs

Caroline xx