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| Lisa Lynch: Gone but not forgotten |
Sometimes when I'm stuck with whatever I'm writing or have a few minutes to fill, I'll click through to the online versions of the British papers and see what's happening 17,000 kilometres away in the motherland. That's how I happened across the obituary of one Lisa Lynch on The Guardian's website. I didn't know her but she looked way too young to be the subject of an obituary. I looked at her blog to find out more. This is what I read:
"Lisa Lynch studied journalism with a view to one day editing Smash Hits. But then something called the internet happened, and as kids stopped cutting song lyrics out of magazines and started downloading them instead, Lisa found herself writing about wallpaper instead of Westlife. At the age of 28, while editing her second interiors title, Lisa discovered a lump in her breast - a lump that spawned not just cancer, but a blog, a book and a writing career. Talk about milking it."
Lisa also had a separate blog about her battle with cancer. It's brilliantly written, very honest and funny - and hearbreakingly sad to read.
I said that I was reading her obituary so you know how Lisa's story ended. She was just 33 when she died, not from cancer of the breast but from the cancer that spread to her bones and her brain. Like I say, I didn't know Lisa but I wish I had. I read her blog and will read her book, The C-Word, too.
Lisa Lynch, great writer, great girl, great loss to the world, you will be missed.
Firstly, yes Lisa was truly quite awesome. I read her book when faced with the possibility of making a decision about mastectomy or not to mastectomy because of a rare cancer, Phyllodes, which was discovered in the breast. Long story short, my journey then meant that I had the great fortune to meet Lisa - even more incredible, funny and beautiful in person too!
ReplyDeleteShe truly was too young to die but in her short life had an enormous impact on so many who were fortunate to meet her (in person, online or via her book). We are all the better for *knowing* Lisa and I'm absolutely sure that although briefly in this world, her impact will continue to be felt by so many for a long time to come.
Thank you for 'sharing' Lisa with your readers.
(Oddly I'm currently reading your blog on a short holiday from London to Sydney!)
Hi Anna,
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear from you - especially as you knew Lisa - and to hear a little of your story too.
I found Lisa's story very confronting but also inspiring. Reading about her definitely makes me think it's just not good enough to sit around feeling sad about the people we've lost to cancer, we must do more to help reduce the incidence of the disease and do everything we can to protect ourselves too. I'm sure I'll be writing about this again in the future.
I hope you are well now and that you have a lovely holiday in Sydney. We're in for some beautiful sunny days here next week, so enjoy...
All the best,
Persephone
Hi, I just happened upon this as I was googling my dear friend's name - sometimes it helps to know there are still pictures of her and things written about her existing online, like she isn't gone. Thank you for writing this. I wish you had known Lisa. I miss her every day.
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for stopping by. I wish I had known Lisa too - and can't believe it's nearly a year since I first read about her and wrote this post. She's still remembered with love by everyone who knew her - and with great sadness by those of us who only knew her story.
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