The hardest post I have ever written.

21st August 1978- February 8th 2012


This week has been tough for me, in fact tough for many people in the chiari community. This week we lost one of our own, on of the best chiarians I will ever have the pleasure of knowing.
Heather Andrews was a fantastic, sweet, funny and all round amazing person. She chose to help anyone who needed it, without a second thought.
She spoke to me for what must have been hours when I was in hospital this summer. She normally succeeded in making me laugh in the dead of night and get me a right telling off from the nurses. She made me feel better when I cried and see the light at the end of the tunnel when I was at my lowest. We talked for endless hours about the surgery I had just had and that she was soon to have. She faced it with the same attitude she seemed to face everything else, showing only brief moments of uncertainty, normally privately and quickly slipping it into a discussion. She was one of the worlds special people that once you have spoken to, you want to cling on to everything they are saying. She lived thousands of miles from me, we never met. We talked about our connection with Ireland, her love of Guinness and my total hate for it, her love for brown sauce and my hate for it. I think she should have come from here rather than me. We talked about meeting when she came to Ireland or England. We talked about me NEVER going to Las Vegas because of my fear of gambling my every belonging away. She made me laugh till my brain hurt and recently cry till my brain exploded.
Heather had her surgery back in November, I remember getting excited when she like my comment on her wall the day after her operation. She went back and forwards from hospital, having 10 operations in the following 10 weeks and then last week she slipped into a coma that even a strong person like her could not fight her way out of. She passed away after doing the last selfless act and donating her organs. I for one will always remember her and though she has gone I will cherish what she taught me about grabbing every opportunity with both hand. So to a true chiari fighter, I <3 you!