Hester Taylor was born in Den Haag, Netherlands on November 15, 1978. I met Hester on 1st August 2004. From the very start I loved her honesty. energy, and beauty. Her smile in particular! We travelled separately but closely (she with her friend Janneke and I in my blue VW camper van) up the east coast of Australia, until in Cairns Hester joined me in the van and we set off around the circumference of Australia. We have amazing memories of the whole trip, and when we finally (sadly) reached Sydney again, we came back to the UK together, with the van on a boat following us. Hester joined me permanently in the UK shortly after that, and on the 18th April 2008 we were married in Cambridge, with our first daughter Millie (Amalia) present albeit still in Hester's tummy! Millie was born 4 months later on 5th August 2008 and was a perfect and beautiful baby (of course!) Maika followed 2 years later on 7th September 2010 and completed our small family for us. It was about 5 months after this in February 2011 that we found out that a cancer that Hester had suffered when she was 21 had returned in her lungs in a way that made it inoperable. We obviously feared the worse, but regular scans and checkups followed and the cancer did not appear to change or progress. Two and a half years passed this way - on the face of it with us living normal lives, but always with the knowledge that this cancer was there. It was in June 2013 when Hester started to experience symptoms which did not appear to be related, but simply would not go away. Shortly after that it was discovered that the cancer had started growing. More ominously though, it had spread to the lymph nodes in her chest and neck. Chemotherapy had minimal chance of having any effect against this type of cancer, but a trial that we had been aware of for several years suddenly opened. This trial drug was a targeted drug that had the potential to lock onto cancer cells with specific genetic features. Hers had these features, and the potential benefits if this drug worked were amazing... She was due to start on the 09/09/2013... Nine being her lucky number, and the 9th September being a particular significant date going back to her University days, it seemed like it was meant to be... When the day came, Hester was found to have excessive fluid building around her heart and one of her lungs, so instead of starting the trial she was immediately admitted to hospital and underwent several operations to release the fluid. She did subsequently start the trial. 3 weeks into the first 6 week cycle, they repeated scans (early) and found out that the drug was simply not working. Hester came off the trial, and with very few options left, she came home for a few days to be with us, her family. Things then progressed very quickly. On Monday 4th November she was due to go back in to possibly start chemotherapy (despite the limited chance of it having any effect). However, by Wednesday 30th October she was having such difficulty breathing that she was admitted to the Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City the following day. She was too ill for chemotherapy to be considered any more. One week later, on Thursday 7th November, 8 days before her 35th birthday, Hester died at 3:56 pm. I was with her to the very end, and our beautiful daughters had seen her less than 2 hours previously and remained present in the building under the care of friends and family. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and I will hold that moment in my heart for the rest of my days. Hester was amazing. She gave so much to so many people, and I am still discovering more about her now and expect to find out much more still. She believed in things and learnt new things all of the time. And she shared that and encouraged others, trying to give the strength of her experiences to those who needed it, precisely because she had gone through times when there was no similar support. In the words of our children; "Mama will always be in our hearts. And our heads, tummies, arms, legs, ears..." I am creating this site so that I can capture as many memories, stories, pictures and videos of Hester as possible, and so that her friends and family can do the same. I want our children to have somewhere they can go to and find out about the amazing person who was their mama, and where her friends and family can come to remember, share and learn about her. I hope you can join me in that goal. Tom x