As her life is celebrated, Josie smiles
Mar 6 2007 By Chloe Griffiths, The Journal
Cherished family photographs showed Josie Grove's journey from a beautiful baby into a vivacious, vibrant young woman yesterday as hundreds gathered to celebrate her life.
The Grove family had opened their albums to show mourners scores of treasured photographs depicting their eldest daughter growing into the brave teenager who touched the heart of the nation.
Many wept as the slide show pictured Josie as a round-cheeked baby, a playful toddler and a loving child - cradling her younger siblings, cuddling the family pets and playing in the sunshine and the snow.
The portraits of a remarkable life also showed Josie at the hardest of times - in hospital, with her head shaved, surrounded by machines and tubes as she received treatment.
But in every image the same unmistakable smile shone out.
And it was not the pain that was remembered yesterday at the service at St Andrew's Church in Corbridge, Northumberland, but the laughter, the strength and the happiness that made Josie unique.
Tributes by the inspirational youngster's father Cliff, her friends, her doctor and her vicar all remembered how much Josie had packed into her short life. They told of the unwavering bravery and courage of the talented artist and the champion swimmer - supporting her family and friends in the face of her ordeal - as well as her overwhelming desire to help others.
Her father Cliff smiled and cried as he thanked the doctors for giving his family an "extra two-and-a-half years to really get to know their daughter".
The 46-year-old jewellery designer, told how during her illness, the former Hexham High School pupil had "blossomed into an amazing young woman", inspiring not only her friends and family, but many people who had never met her to donate money to help others like her.
Josie, of Princes Street in Corbridge, was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was just 14, while living in Thailand where her parents' jewellery factory is located.
After two bone marrow transplants and aggressive anti-cancer drugs proved unsuccessful, doctors had to break the news that her cancer was terminal.
But determined Josie never faltered.
Cliff said: "It was her strength that kept us going.
"It was her that held our hands, not the other way round.
"She put her arms around her two dazed parents and said: `It's OK'.
"I only have admiration for her."
And it was not just her family and friends whose lives were touched by the youngster.
Newcastle General Hospital's consultant oncologist Rod Skinner said his life had been "enriched" by treating Josie and spending time with her.
He said: "She was a vibrant, vivacious young lady with an infectious enthusiasm.
"She laughed a lot and she never stopped trying. She was very brave, determined and positive - these three attributes stood out in her personality.
"Josie was also a very busy person. She was always about to go somewhere or do something."
He told how in recent months this determination had focused on her fundraising and her determination to help others through the Josie Grove Leukaemia Fund, which would now become her "remarkable legacy".
By the time she finally succumbed to her illness on Monday, February 26, the courageous teenager had raised more than £40,000.
And just four days before her death, she had achieved one of her final wishes - to hand over £10,000 to the Northern Institute of Cancer Research.
Corbridge vicar the Rev Dr Michael Morphy, a close family friend, said: "Josie was remarkable.
"I think there was an unconscious greatness of spirit about her - of someone who inspired, of someone with an implacable courage, of someone with an eternal smile that was not put on, that was just her."
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Three words - strength, courage and happiness
Josie's father yesterday struggled to contain his emotions as he paid tribute to the unwavering "strength, courage and happiness" of his daughter.
Cliff Grove moved mourners to tears as he told how his brave, beautiful daughter, had supported her family in the face of her illness, and despite her declining health.
He smiled and he wept as he told a packed church how Josie, 16, had comforted her parents and brothers and sisters - holding their hands when they had struggled to cope with her illness.
He said: "It was her strength that kept us going. She put her arms around her two dazed parents and said: `It's OK'."
Cliff, 46, said: "Even when she was told it was terminal she was still strong. She was not frightened of her journey at all.
"Without any doubt she spent her life as a lion.
"Happiness was her most beautiful attribute. Not only was she always smiling, but her smile shone out at you.
"I would walk in the room and she would smile at me and I knew everything would be all right. Her view on life was so simple and refreshing."
Cliff said she had been a joyous happy child, who would insist her father stopped the car when they drove past a field of green grass in the sunshine so the whole family could run around in it, and would write "love and happiness" under her order for a Chinese takeaway.
He said: "She lived her life through three simple words - strength, courage and happiness."
But it was after her diagnosis with leukaemia that Josie "blossomed into an amazing young woman".
He said: "When she took the decision to stop further treatment and be with her family at home, she blossomed into this amazing young woman that captured the heart of the nation."
Josie, he said, had been aware of the publicity her plight had received, and had been determined to do whatever she could to help others, particularly children and young people, also suffering with cancer and leukaemia.
And he said it had been one of her final wishes to hand over £10,000 to the Northern Cancer Institute - which she did, just four days before she died.
Cliff said: "As her father, it made me the proudest man on this earth."
Her charity has now raised nearly £40,000, with almost half of that donated by Journal readers.
Josie's fundraising has become her legacy, and her family have pledged to continue it in her name.
They discovered Josie's leukaemia was terminal at the end of last autumn and throughout her illness Cliff noticed how everything seemed to be dying - the trees shedding their leaves, flowers disappearing.
But after her death, he went for a run beside the river and suddenly everything seemed to have come to life - "the birds were singing, the snowdrops were pushing through the ground, it was truly beautiful," he said.
"It was as if she was trying to tell me that the difficult times were over and now it was time to start afresh with a new life.
"Josie Grove, you were the most amazing daughter a father could ever have and you will never be forgotten."
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The dragonfly spirit lives on
Josie Grove's memory will live on in the form of a dragonfly, to symbolise her strength and dignity.
Josie's dragonfly, a delicate gold pendant, was designed by her and her parents and in the hours leading to her death her mum Jacqui, 44, placed the pendant around her daughter's neck.
Josie died last Monday. She was cremated and yesterday, at a celebration of her life at St Andrew's Church in Corbridge, Northumberland, her year nine head at Hexham's Queen Elizabeth High School, Bryn Reeve, told the story of the dragonfly by Doris Stickney.
He told of it's journey through life, from egg to nymph to adult and how once it is reborn as a dragonfly, there is no way it can return to living at the bottom of the pond.
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Words and tears
Mourners broke down in tears as a musician Jane Armstrong sang Patience of Angels and Wind Beneath My Wings during a slide show of Josie's life.
Other hymns during the service were Shine Jesus Shine, and Lord of the Dance.
One of Josie's best friends at Hexham's Queen Elizabeth High School, Lydia Davidson, sang Homeward Bound, a song she had composed herself, and Macmillan Nurse Viv Alison read the poem A Child Loaned, by Edward A Guest:
"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine', He said,
"For you to love the while she lives, and mourn for when she's dead.
She may be sixteen years or more, or even two or three,
But will you, till I call her back, take care of her for me?
She'll bring her charm to gladden you, and, should her stay be brief,
You'll have her lovely memories as solace for your grief.
"I cannot promise she will stay, since all from earth return,
But there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn.
I've looked the wide world over in my search for teachers true.
And from the throng that crowd life's lanes I have selected you.
Now will you give her all your love, nor think the labour's vain,
Nor hate me when I come to call and take her back again?
"I fancy that I hear you say, `Dear Lord, they will be done,
For all the joys thy child shall bring the risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter her with tenderness, we'll love her while we may
And for the happiness we've known for ever grateful stay.
But, should the angels call for her much sooner than we'd planned
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand.'
The last song at the service was Every Breath You Take, by Puff Daddy.
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Appeal
Scores of Journal readers have been donating money in Josie's memory - taking the total to nearly £20,000.
Since the death of the inspirational 16-year-old even more of you have been digging in your pockets to contribute to the Josie Grove Leukaemia Fund, started by The Journal in the wake of her decision to forego any further treatment for terminal cancer.
And more than £3,000 was raised in just one day.
The total now stands at an incredible £19,059 and the fundraising has not stopped.
Josie's parents Cliff and Jacqui, of Princes Street in Corbridge, Northumberland, have vowed to continue her "remarkable legacy" by continuing with her charity work.
And so has The Journal.
We continue to urge you to join with us to raise money for the brave teenager, who managed one of her final wishes by handing a £10,000 cheque over to the Northern Institute for Cancer Research just four days before her death.
