5:45pm Monday 13th October 2008
IT is with great sadness that I have just learned of the death of Jill Neill.
Jill worked as a reporter in Richmond for both the Darlington & Stockton Times and The Northern Echo.
She was the first person I met when I joined the Echo as a frightened young man in 1984. In those days, Jill was the newsdesk secretary and she was the friendly, welcoming face that was sent down to collect me from reception.
She later re-trained as a journalist and worked for the Darlngton & Stockton Times and then for The Northern Echo too, although it is entirely fair to say her heart was always with her beloved D&S.
Jill was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2006 and faced her illness with extraordinary courage, continuing to work through long periods of chemotherapy and never complaining.
When the side-effects became too bad and she wasn't well enough to come to work, she worried about the effect it was having on her colleagues.
She was always thinking of others.
When she lost her hair, she wrote about her experiences of having a wig fitted because she wanted to highlight the importance of the service and to make others feel less self-conscious.
In June 2007, she ran the Race For Life in South Park in Darlington to raise money for Cancer Research.
I visited Jill in a Richmond hospice a few weeks ago. I was worried about what to say but she made it so easy, asking about her colleagues and my family.
She had just come in after being taken for a walk around the gardens outside.
"You don't realise how wonderful it is just to smell the flowers and the fresh air," she said.
Her room was overflowing with flowers from local organisations and individuals who respected her as an excellent community journalist and a very nice person.
She was one of the bravest people I have ever met and she will be greatly missed.
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