Sadness

I hired K way back in 1991, a young, quiet, sweet woman with a beautiful smile and gentle soul.

Five years ago, she came down with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Today, after a long and incredibly brave battle, we lost her, at 45. This is one of five cancer cases I'm dealing with, in a population of less than 180. It's way too many. She's the first one we've lost and it has hit us all very hard.

In HR there's so much to deal with, apart from the medical side over all these years, the sick leave, the hiring of a temp to keep her job open for when she was able to come to work over the years. And now, the death benefits, the administration of closing her file, ending her relationship with us.

As a company, we stood by her. As individuals, we stood by her. I'm proud of all of us for being who we were to K. But it's hard. I wish the outcome had been different. I wish we'd see her smile around here again. We will miss her.

RIP, K.