OUR VERY OWN BUTTERFLY

I was asked to write about Michelle, and unusual for me, I found it hard to come up with the words at first, mainly because there simply aren't enough words to describe Michelle.

It makes me smile to write about her, yet sad at the same time that we've had to say goodbye to such an amazing, inspirational person. Michelle sadly passed away on June 17th 2010 after a brave fight with Cancer.

She was never one to dwell on that fact, nor did she make people aware of her illness. She was a wife, step-mum, sister, daughter, niece, colleague, businesswoman and friend just like everyone else.

Throughout Michelle's diagnosis and treatment, she had the support of the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust - a charity dedicated to Thyroid Cancer. The butterfly, as explained by Michelle to me one day, is significant as it is the same shape as our thyroid but also represents spreading your wings and flying, not letting anything step in your way. And that, in my opinion, very much describes Michelle.

I had the honour of meeting Michelle two years ago, when I was fresh out of University and excited to enter the PR and Marketing world. I'll never forget the day I met her in Pitcher and Piano - glamorous with her spiky blonde hair and huge shades, which I'm sure is the image many people will remember.

The second I began to work with her when she opened her own agency I had never looked up to someone as much as I did Michelle - her confidence, her knowledge, and her beautiful writing (even her emails were word perfect!). As much as it will sound like a cliché, I really did admire Michelle.

She worked in PR and Marketing since graduating University, worked her way from Account Executive to eventually opening up her own agency. Through her hard work, talent and dedication, Michelle became one of the region's successes in the PR industry, and the first to introduce speed dating to the UK Market.

And she was always keen to share her knowledge and experience with others, by running her own PR training course, to ensuring those around her always had the perfect copy to give to clients and to the press - she always was one for proof reading work and making ‘small' changes to a piece of editorial. In fact, she'll probably still want to copy check this blog I'm writing.

I don't think it's possible to put in writing and do justice to what Michelle was to so many people, or to even write about the type of person she was. A few years ago she wrote her own story for the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust website, and one part in particular really makes you realise how her positive mind worked, and how we should all think about life:

"Life is not about counting how many months or years or decades we have in front of us. Like the rest of the world, I have no idea. It's about how we live them."

Michelle will be a huge miss to so many people, those who met her only once could even see the special qualities she had. But one thing is for sure...I'll be keeping an eye out for butterflies every day now.

LAURA BAINBRIDGE