Rachel Smith first came into my life last year, through the medium of Twitter, where she tweeted as @rachelolgeirsso. Witty and intelligent, Rachel readily engaged others in conversations about politics, life and popular culture. Although we were both active Lib Dems, we’d be as likely to exchange comments about The Apprentice or Strictly Come Dancing as about the coalition or political policies.
Rachel had been an active tweeter through the general election and the formation of the coalition, strong about the Lib Dems place in government and scathing as to what she saw as Labour’s opportunism and hypocrisy, especially where it related to her own constituency of Sheffield Hallam and her MP, the Deputy Prime Minister. So it was no surprise when in July she started blogging. The reason for this soon became clear: Rachel was looking for a distraction whilst she was in hospital, undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia.Over the summer I shared some time in hospital with Rachel, albeit 200 miles away. I was an in-patient for just nine days and my canula was only for the delivery of antibiotics, nothing compared to Rachel’s gruelling regime. But her concern for me and also for her fellow hospitalised Yorkshire Lib Dem Jennie Rigg was generous and full of the same positivity that she tried to keep alive for her own illness.
In October Rachel was told that her best chance of a cure lay in a bone marrow transplant, The following month she was back in hospital for the treatment she hoped would enable her to continue her life as a wife, mother and community activist. For several weeks her online presence was negligible, as the treatment was, in her words, ‘like being slapped by a giant frying pan’. Before her last course of treatment started, she had set her heart on being home for Christmas. Sadly it was not to be and Rachel died in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Yesterday Twitter was full of shock at Rachel’s passing, but also of fond memories from those whose lives she had touched, of all political parties and none. We all thought of her husband, two young sons and the rest of her family. Earlier this year, Rachel started an appeal with her sister Cathy to raise money for the leukaemia ward of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, where Rachel was treated. The appeal is still open and donations in Rachel’s memory are welcome.
Both Caron Lindsay and Spidey have also blogged in memory of Rachel.
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10 Comments
Rachel will be hugely missed in Sheffield. Her spirit and dedication were an inspiration to us all. Rachel was very active in the community, and was lined up to be a fantastic city councillor when the leukaemia hit. To have her taken from us, at such a young age, with small children left behind, is a bitter bitter blow.
A fitting tribute to someone who continued to give as her world came crashing down around her. Like you, Rachel came into my life through twitter, and it was a long time before I realised she was seriously ill. She always had a kind word for anyone who she tweeted with. Like most people who knew her, I’m going to miss her. My heart goes out to her family and friends.
I associate myself with this tribute.
Our thoughts go out to family and friends at this time.
I only knew her through Twitter, and all too briefly, but her personality and warmth came across immediately. Rachel may have lost her personal battle with leukaemia, but she will always be with us and not forgotten.
Rob
I only briefly met Rachel in November when I was in Sheffield and she always lit up my twitter stream. She will be sorely missed and my thoughts are with her close friends and her family.
Sara, that’s a beautiful tribute to Rachel. Thanks.
Like you, I only knew her over Twitter, which really seemed to suit her. Whether she was making a pithy political point, or chatting about Strictly, when you saw her name come up in your timeline, you knew you’d enjoy or empathise with what she had to say. She also had a wicked sense of humour and made me laugh many times with her spontaneous comments.
She was kind and thoughtful enough to support others, as you’ve said. When I was ill for a long time, she always had something encouraging to say.
I think she’d have been an excellent, feisty councillor as well and she’s a huge loss to the Sheffield Liberal Democrats. One of my favourite blog posts of hers, which I linked to at the time, was when she put Labour in their place over Forgemasters while at the same time warning against talking Sheffield down. http://rachelolgeirsson.blogspot.com/2010/07/stop-talking-sheffield-down.html
I’d really missed her on Twitter when she went into hospital, and was delighted and hopeful when she briefly popped back in during the penultimate episode of the Apprentice on 15th December. Sadly, though, that respite was only brief.
My thoughts are with her two boys, husband and sister and all her close family and friends.
Really saddened to see this – Rachel was as warm and funny in real life as she came across online. Originally we met through a mutual friend, Simon Moxon, who tragically died suddenly aged in his early thirties last year. Time is cruel and takes good people from us; we remember them fondly and continue their fights.
This is very sad. I thought she made excellent points on twitter. She must be a greatly missed by all who knew her.
I too only knew her through twitter, and was very touched by the generosity of her support for me last month.
She’s a sad loss to Sheffield, and to all of us.
Its taken me ages to get to write here as I have been busy with work and didnt really know what else to say. I’ve already blogged that Rachel was a great help to me and I will miss her very much for all her kind words and inspiration.
I think its testament to how she was seen by all as a person, an activist, a mum and a blogger that so many people have left tributes to her and made donations to her just giving page for the hospital where she was treated.
Sarah, thanks for a lovely post.
Lisa
I’ve only just stumbled on this post months later and it’s the first I knew that Rachel had died. I can only assume no one realised I didn’t know and I haven’t been on twitter for months.
I first came across Rachel when she contacted the constituency office in Sheffield Hallam to find out more about what would being a councillor would involve. We corresponded by email a few times before I finally met her. When I did my reaction to her can just be summed up with the words “what a lovely person”. I then gave her further encouragement to stand and also used to regularly respond to her tweets – as much about The Apprentice as politics. I hoped that when she recovered from her illness she would be raring to go as a council candidate and she would have been a huge asset to our council group in the city. Very sad loss.