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Family remember Claire and help hospice

As Claire Morgan battled cancer, she vowed to find a way for her children to know she always loved them.

Claire was diagnosed with cancer in December 2005, and lost her fight against the disease, aged 37, in May 2007.

Before she died, Claire and husband Andrew Cutler, of High Street, Yalding, created a memory box for her children, Eleanor, now five, and Kit, now two.

The box contains messages written by Claire for her children to be read at various points in their lives and video footage of the family together.

Its contents also include a ticket to a formal ball in Hong Kong.

One day Andrew, 42, will explain to the youngsters that the ball, in 1998, was the couple’s first date, how he and their mum met while working in Hong Kong with the same law firm, and that her generous and vivacious personality won Claire friends all over the world.

Claire was diagnosed with cancer of the vulva at the end of 2005, just before the couple returned to live in the UK.

Andrew said: “Although Claire did not always want to be filmed, we bought a video camera to capture as many memories as possible. Eleanor likes watching videos of her mum, but Kit is too young to understand what is happening.”

At the end of this month, the family will quietly give their support to the Heart of Kent Hospice, at one of its Light Up A Life events.

The events, which have been running for eight years, feature candlelit processions in memory of loved ones. A book of remembrance will also be opened.

Andrew said: “Claire passed away at home, but we were being supported by the hospice as we thought her final days would be spent there.

“We had just had our second child, moved continents and then the diagnosis came, so our reserves as a family were just shot to pieces.

“The hospice staff took away all the worries and helped deal with all the things that needed doing.

“Times are hard and everyone’s money is stretched, but I really cannot think of a better cause to support and one which touches people’s lives in the same way.”

• There will be two Light Up A Life events this year. The first will take place in Maidstone High Street, outside the Town Hall, from 5.30pm on Sunday, November 23.

The second will be in West Malling High Street from 4.15pm on Sunday, November 30.

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