Jade effect 'will save thousands from cancer'

Published on Sunday 5 April 2009 22:18

THE phenomenal level of interest in the funeral of Jade Goody will save thousands of lives by raising awareness of cancer, a leading charity said yesterday.

Streets were lined with mourners as the Big Brother star's coffin was driven in a vintage Rolls-Royce hearse to her funeral service in Essex.

And millions more watched on television the last journey of a life lived in the spotlight.

The interest added to what is being called the "Jade effect" – a huge increase in the number of people talking about, and seeking information on, cancer.

"Her legacy will be to help save lives," said Sara Hiom, the director of health information at Cancer Research UK.

Ms Hiom revealed the number of hits on its website's cervical cancer pages had leaped from just over 100,000 in January to almost 390,000 in February, thanks to the publicity surrounding Goody's illness.

She said: "Media coverage of Jade Goody's tragic plight has brought important cervical cancer awareness messages into living-rooms across the UK," she said. "The huge increase in people seeking information about cervical cancer following Jade's diagnosis has become known as the 'Jade effect'.

"Jade's story has raised awareness of cervical cancer, which has led to hundreds of thousands of people contacting Cancer Research UK for information on the disease as the number of hits to our website, CancerHelp.org, shows."

Before Saturday's funeral service, flowers were thrown on to the hearse as it carried the coffin from Bermondsey, London, to Goody's home in Upshire, Essex, and then on to a church in Buckhurst Hill.

The mourners included the Big Brother host, Davina McCall, the singer Jamelia, TV chef Aldo Zilli and Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat MP for Bermondsey.

The PR guru Max Clifford and other friends gave readings at the service, as did Goody's Marie Curie nurses. Music included performances by the London Community Gospel Choir and two tracks from the Paisley-born singer Paolo Nutini.

Goody's sons, Bobby, five, and Freddie, four, were not there – they had been taken to Australia by their father, Jeff Brazier, after she died on 22 March, aged 27, to spare them the glare of the cameras and pain of the funeral.

Jack Tweed, 21, who had married the reality TV celebrity shortly before her death, was pictured swept up in the emotion of the day, along with Goody's mother, Jackiey, 51. Tweed had to be back home by 7pm to comply with bail conditions imposed after his conviction for assault.

Floral tributes celebrated Goody's life in the spotlight, spelling out the words "minging" and "East Angula" – which had made her famous on her first Big Brother appearance.

Clifford told the congregation at St John the Baptist Church that Goody had been a "very ordinary and very extraordinary" woman, who became a "princess" and a "queen".

He said: "When we left the house, it was cloudy and overcast. As we moved forward, the sun started to come through – and that is what, in many ways, Jade's life was like. It was difficult to start with, but she took more and more control… she stood up to be counted, the people came to appreciate her."

The Rev Corinne Brixton, who led the service, said: "Jade

had more than her fair share of life's hardships, but in the last few months she inspired us. We admired her courage and dignity in facing death."