News this morning announces the death of Elisabeth Sladen, better known to my generation as Sarah Jane Smith, probably the finest assistant Dr Who ever had; certainly the one who travelled with him during my younger childhood when Jon Pertwee steered the TARDIS and K9 was the epitome of robotic companions - 'affirmative, master'.

I knew she had to be in her sixties, but somehow Sarah Jane was timeless - a fitting attritube for a time lord's companion - so it was a shock to hear she had died, and to know that cancer had claimed another victim.

Yesterday's BUS Ministry Matters included in its prayer list several ministers and/or their spouses and immediate families affected by cancer, commenting on the high number.  That's the way of statistics and randomness of course: you wait ages for one then three come at once.  Given there are around 200 ministers, mostly with spouses, it shouldn't be a surprise to discover that there are currently eight 'pulpits' so affected, to say nothing of the dozens of unnamed and unknown 'pew people'.

So, goodbye Sarah Jane, and God bless with tenacity and hope all who live daily with the reality of knowing what cancer really means.