a life-threatening illness, she led a campaign to get more beds in our cancer wards. At a time of great physical weakness, she found the strength to highlight the conditions she witnessed in our hospitals. Now, Janette has written a searing account of her battle against cancer and her campaign for a better health service. It will make you cry, and laugh. It is truly the most detailed and honest medical record file you will ever read. --The Irish Mail, August 2006 Memories of the cancer patient ward where moments of acute sadness, despair and fleeting occasions of laughter were shared, remain to the fore of one of Ireland's best-known health campaigner's daily thoughts... As the full-time voluntary spokeswoman for the lobby group, Patients Together, Byrne is something of a celebrity within Ireland s hospital wards. Famed for wanting to inspire vocal revolution about the state of Ireland s health care system, she has turned a private journal recounting her battle with cancer and the infinite struggle with the health system into a book in memory of those no longer alive to recount their personal stories. --The Irish Times, September 2006 Janette Byrne used to laugh and cry with the girls who shared beds beside her in the cancer ward. The bond formed between a group of women who are all scared of dying and trying to fight for life is like no other friendship... "When you are on a cancer ward with the girls there are no pretensions between