Have you heard of Helen Harcombe? If not, get out the Kleenex before clicking here. An excerpt:

A mother who died from breast cancer is helping to bring up her daughter – with a manual of advice she had written in the final stages of her illness.

Helen Harcombe, from Porth in the Rhondda, left instructions for raising seven-year-old Ffion. It includes advice for husband Anthony on everything from school uniforms, hair, Christmas presents and bedding. Mrs Harcombe’s mother Diane Raybould said the three-page list brought the spirit of her daughter back.

Mrs Harcombe, who was 28, died shortly after Christmas 2004. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, nine months after finding a lump in her right breast…

The BBC reprints some of Mrs. Harcombe’s to-do list:

-Uniform bought every September. Check hair for nits regularly. Bath and hair every other night, AT LEAST. No child of mine to be smelly.

-Make sure you serve food with veg/peas. Get fruit down her. Don’t let her live out of cans, noodles and toast etc.

-At Christmas time don’t forget the smaller things like stocking fillers to make it look more and fill up the stocking – chocolates, bobbles, clips, make up, fun stuff etc.

-Bedding should be changed once a fortnight, more if sweaty.

-Flowers to me at least Mothers’ Day, my birthday, Ffion’s birthday, our anniversary, Christmas etc (in between would be nice!)

-Keep in touch with Fi’s godparents and my friends and especially Mam and Dad or… I’ll haunt you!

Read more here.

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