About three and a half years ago, my friend Ned rang me to tell me she had breast cancer. I was stunned. Gutted. How could she? She was only 40 and had two very young children.

Ned’s personality was larger than life and that was the way she treated every hurdle she ever faced.

She was always positive, and even throughout the most horrendous treatment, she smiled and laughed.

We occasionally cried together but only at her exceptionally low times throughout the chemo. It never once crossed her mind that she wouldn’t beat this terrible disease.

She had two years of great health, the checkups were just precautionary. In October of last year the cancer returned and this time, the doctors couldn’t do anything. There were secondaries that couldn’t be operated on.

Today Ned died, leaving behind a devastated husband and two young boys. As well as leaving a hole in their life, she’s left a gap in all of her friends lives.

Ned was passionate about prevention of both breast and prostate cancer.

So please, if you are reading this and you haven’t been to the doctor for a while, please go. Have a ’100,000k check up, grease and oil change, and a boob check’, as Ned would’ve called it, or a prostate one.

If between Ned and I, we can save one person’s life, that’s all we could ask for.