Before I Say Goodbye

Plot

When Ruth Picardie died from complications following the misdiagnosis of breast cancer in September 1997, leaving a young husband and two-year-old twins, 1000s mourned who'd never met her. Ruth's column in The Observer recorded the progress of her illness and her feelings about living with terminal cancer. This text brings together these pieces, Ruth's e-mail correspondance with friends, selected letters from readers, and accounts of Ruth's last days by her sister, Justine, and husband Matt.