We don't realise what we’ve got until it's gone - health is one of those “things”. It's heart-wrenching to witness those we love struggle such life altering illnesses, especially when they haven’t yet reached the “best years”. Too often these days young people face a treacherous, torturous journey, through mazes of struggle and suffering, constantly taking wrong turns, which is easy to do, yet impossible to avoid. At times it seems impossible to survive the journey and even pointless to try when in one foul swoop it can be snatched away, leaving us all totally powerless to stop it.

The whole team have lost too many friends and family, young and old, so many names and stories, so many hopes and dreams. Creating Post Pals really put life into perspective, for everyone who has come across the site, and for us reading and learning about the many children and young people who for many reasons we couldn’t feature, at times we cried, it's just not fair.

I've been unfortunate in my life to meet some of the very worst people, thankfully I've also been lucky enough to meet most of the very best. For a long time I was just a little ship on the big wide ocean, nothing for miles across, down or above before I was surrounded by others like me, just as lost, just as alone. Sometimes support comes in the strangest and most unexpected ways. I didn’t know them, they didn’t know me, how we became so close I’ll never know, since that day the kindness of strangers has always overwhelmed me. While my fragile soul flickered, my new found friends came around me, relighting my soul and my fight, I didn’t need to hide anymore, piece by piece we fitted together.

Determination and courage are what pushes us forward with bated breath, battling each monster as it arises. Too often there is nothing outsiders can do but witness events before their eyes and maybe it's impossible for those people to see how simple actions make such a difference. It takes 5 minutes, just 5 minutes to Post a Smile on a Child’s Face.

...And so the pieces fit. Although there are many loved ones worthy of a dedication on this page we wish to tribute www.postpals.co.uk to all those who fought and survived, those dearly departed and those who make the difference.

“If there is one thing I've learned it's that survival isn’t only of the fittest, more the ones who were lucky enough to find that final Jigsaw piece behind the sofa”

Kat Ramsey, Post Pals Manager and Administrator August 2003

We weren’t suppose to meet

Of all the people in this world
We weren’t suppose to meet
By twisted fate or angry hate
You & I should not have been “we”

This “thing” gave us our friendship
Turned our worlds over in two
When we felt like giving up
We held on through it all

The experiences we witnessed
The suffering we shared
The nightmares we have lived through
The discoveries we double dared

Of all the people in this world
We weren’t suppose to meet
But without you by my side these years
There wouldn’t have be a me