Sunday 22 March 2009

Goodbye Jade...

It's been a while since my last post and much has happened...
1. My blog is two years old and did not even notice! (again)
2. Matt's blog came to life! :O
3. The 7 weeks ordeal in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department are over... for the time being.
4. Media is in full swing working on this year's edition of Murmur... and hopefully even Sphygmo
5. MMSA will be having elections on Monday
6. And someone's suffering in the UK has come to an end today in the early hours of the morning after an admirable battle against cervical cancer.



This post will be a little tribute to Jade Goody, originally a dental nurse assistant born and bred in Bermondsey, south-east London, who entered the public eye after propelling into fame in 2002 when finishing 4th on Big Brother. Since then, Jade signed up to many a series of lucrative television, newspaper and magazine deals, wrote her autobiography and launched a top selling perfume Shh... In the meantime, she was a mother of 2 boys Bobby (5) and Freddie (4) and also had to support her own mother Jackiey Budden after suffering from a crippling motor vehicle accident.

In all honesty, I wasn't really a big fan of Jade. And neither was the press in the very beginning. Jade often attracted press mockery for her appearance and supposed ignorance, being considered as a personification of all that is wrong with Britain today. She was loud-mouthed, brash and came up with (perfect for Sphygmo) PEARLS OF WISDOM such as, "Is East Anglia (Cambridge) abroad?" In fact, her brashness and big mouth were almost going to ruin her public image when she joined racially tinged bullying of the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in the celebrity edition of Big Brother in 2007.

However, since Jade received the devastating news that she had cervical cancer in August 2008, I started keeping a closer eye on her. For the past few months I stayed watching the last few days of such an ordinary person, with no particular discernible talent and with all the characteristics making her an unlikely celebrity... I watched her leaving such a mark in so many women's lives. The Living TV documentary of Jade Goody's battle with cancer entitled Jade has touched the hearts of thousands of viewers. Also, cancer charities noted an increase in younger women booking screening tests for cervical cancer. In fact, this tidal increase in women going in for smear tests has been noticed even by the medical profession, with doctors referring to this as the Jade effect.

Although most of her TV appearances were done to provide financial security to her sons Bobby and Freddie, I think as a medical student I owe Jade Goody a big thank you. When you really think about it, no health campaign would have, and will ever, manage to drive home the importance of taking regular Pap smears like this! So...

Thanks Jade for managing to see the silver lining in every cloud. May you rest in peace.