Sometimes it’s when I’m going through my address book. At Christmas perhaps, or looking for a similar name. And I’ll come across two names of two friends, both of whom died of ovarian cancer.

Annie was scarcely fifty- vibrant,funny, a great source of gossip, a lover of clothes. With how  many cappuccinos and white wines did  we while away an afternoon or an evening. We met when she did my makeup for a commercial- in which I was ‘pretending’ to give birth, before I’d actually had children. When I did have my baby, she was among the first to visit. She went on to great success in her field, and I was proud of her – but really rather more delighted by our enduring friendship. Her illness took her quickly, too soon-much too soon. Like so many women, she hadn’t realised she was ill till too late.

Serena was at school with me –  I remember her best for an enduring friendship with her great friend Jill – two bright and naughty girls, always without malice, always fun. When I last saw her, she was a mother of two and already stricken with the cancer that would kill her.

Funds are limited, but research is ongoing whenever possible and every little bit of money helps, just as every bit of research takes us closer to a cure. Every  kiss sent in The Eve Appeal’s  Kiss of Life Campaign  means someone has thought for more than a moment about the women we’ve lost, and those we will lose until a cure is found. With mine, I blow a kiss in friendship and love to Annie and to Serena, and to all the wonderful women in the world.