I kept on working because it was an escape. It wasn’t just her death, it was a 10 year battle for her life and an incredibly difficult thing to deal with emotionally. As a family we were on this emotional rollercoaster, and in many ways it was much easier to cope with the illness itself, I had Georgie there and there was a purpose – fighting to try and save her. When she actually died it became really difficult, I’d had 10 years to think about what it would be like, but it turned out to be much more difficult to deal with not only in terms of my own grief but in terms of having to deal with the whole family’s emotions. It’s an ongoing difficulty because I’ll never, ever get over it, and I don’t think any of us will. It’s enormously humbling watching an incredibly brave child fight for life, it made me think I had no right to complain about anything because no matter how much she was going through Georgie never complained. Although it’s been a desperate, dreadful thing to live through I wouldn’t give up having been her mother for anything in the world, it taught me so much, including that there’s more to life than wealth and success, and was been the defining experience of my life.
