"A friend is one to whom one may divulge all the problems in one's heart knowing that she will take it, wheat and chaff together, sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with the gentlest of breathes, blow the rest away". Debbie, my immediate elder sister by twenty-one months, was also a true and constant friend and I am aware that so many felt the same. At fifteen Deb won first price in a fancy dress competition; being without props, she and her friend wrapped towels around their bodies and went as "an illegitimate breakfast cereal; Snap, Crackle without the Pop". Deb was always up for the challenge and made the most of the little she had. She was a human being with great love and compassion - she once took on an abandoned cat with flystrike; Safran's surgical and medical care left her incontinent - Deb did not confine her but allowed her a normal very loved life despite the huge inconvenience to herself and her home. Deb's unfulfilled dream was to write her book but I have very cherished memories of her nightly bedtime story-telling when we shared a room as a child. Her family always got rhyming but pertinent poems on their birthday cards. Debbie was a great communicator, the French people that she met were impressed by her command of their language and even in her very final hours her ability in french was uncompromised; apart from their animal welfare practices, Deb loved the french way of life. One quality in people that Deb held in very high regard was their sense of humour (though secondary to whether or not they were a genuine animal lover who regarded animals as having equal rights to humans). Right till the final hours Deb kept hers. Deb was funny -she could make you laugh. I was with Deb intermittently during the last weeks of her illness. I watched her 'kissing her friends goodbye' properly to try and lessen their pain. I saw her not wanting to be a nuisance and I saw her bravery. Deb led a full, loved and loving life. In so many ways she has inspired me - she touched me and I have grown.