'Rough diamond' remembered

EVEN over here, as a 10,000 mile away onlooker, I've been following the devastating and deteriorating condition of Big Brother star, Jade Goody.

At 27, she's been snatched from her two young boys, family and friends by the evil disease that is cancer. The girl who was never afraid to 'have a go' and was always first to put herself down has gone.

People have either loved or hated Jade ... personally, I loved her, but was frowned upon whenever this admission cropped up.
"She's a nothing. A nobody. Just someone who's as thick as two short planks who's been on a reality show ..." they would retort.

Yes... she may have been just a Cockney 'sparra' who was catapulted into the media spotlight by a reality show that highlighted her language gaffs and non-Mensa-like take on life but these are the reasons why viewers in their thousands tuned into the show week after week.

I met Jade this time last year at a pre-charity football match dinner in Wrexham. Listed among the other celebrities were X-Factor contestant Andy Abraham and Liberty X's Michelle Heaton was there with then but now estranged husband, Andy Scott-Lee.
Jade made her appearance, running late as always, with Jack Tweed following closely behind.

She liked to come over as one brimming with confidence with a boyish and cheeky attitude but really, I found her to be the shy sort of ladette type. She posed for a photograph with us and got up on the dancefloor to strutt away to the vives coming from the X-Factor crooner and was soon gone, back upto her hotel room, to get some shut-eye for the following day on the footy pitch.

Just a few months later, she was in the spotlight again in a racism row over treatment towards fellow Celeb Big Bro contestant, Shilpa Shetty. Personally, I think it was blown all out of proportion but as an olive branch, the shamed star agree to take part in India's version of BB. It was here where she was told of her illness in the diary room of the television set.

After her flight home there followed report after report on her condition and now, just months after receiving the shocking news, she's gone and I'm gutted.
Even on her deathbed, she remained firmly in the media focus and it is hoped that this TV coverage seeing her dwindle away before our eyes may raise enough awareness of the threat of cervical cancer.

I'm sure after this, doctor's surgeries near and far are being inundated with check up appointments. If Jade hadn't been the person she was and allowing us all to have a bird's eye view into her world, she would be just another silent statistic to the killer disease.