Today we heard that M's sister in law has suffered a recurrence of her cancer and is quite ill. She was very down about it. Her sister in law has two children, age 10 and 12, and her husband is not taking it well. He and his wife are very close. Perhaps the helplessness when faced by a terrible illness is worse for a doctor because you are always wondering if you could have done more or differently.

At night, we took the children to the Cancer Society's charity gala at the Ritz Carlton, where they had a catwalk by cancer survivors. It seemed like almost all of them were women in their early 30s. One of them snatched off her wig on the runway to reveal a bald head. Everyone cheered. But there were some elderly women among them, one of whom has not had cancer recur since 1951. She is now 89, and founded the society's Reach to Recovery programme.

We were invited by Ann Loh, whose PR firm is handling the publicity for the society's TV fund raiser. She had bought a table. The kids behaved themselves beautifully, and even ate some of the food. They seemed interested in the goings on but were most impressed by the hotel itself, and expressed a dear wish that we could stay there for one night!