Being a journalist is a privilege, not least because you get to meet extraordinary people.

Sometimes it is those in politics and the arts, sometimes people who are of interest by dint of circumstance or their own actions. Occasionally you come across people whose courage, humanity or talent moves the heart of even the most hardened hack.

Very occasionally that person is a fellow journalist. June Sampson is one of that rare breed.

For 28 years she has been covering Kingston for the Surrey Comet. Over that time she became the foremost living authority on the history of the Royal borough, and has written a number of books on the subject.

She has won a fistful of awards for her reporting and, much more importantly for her, the respect and trust of so many in her beloved borough.

Now she is battling cancer. It is typical of her that, rather than keeping this private, she took the brave decision to go public about her illness.

Her reports from the cancer front line have touched many.

They offer a shared experience to fellow sufferers, a window into a strange world to those of us who may one day have to go there, and a mirror to cancer care today, revealing the bad and the good.

Even in the Valley of the Shadow, June is a journalist to her fingertips.

She has composed her articles lying in hospital with a chemo drip in her arm, filed them on time however tired she may have felt, and worried and worked to ensure what she says is both accurate and fair.

Her work is an example of real and committed journalism and I am sure all Comet readers will join with us in wishing her well at this difficult time.

March 27, 2002 16:30