Ruth Picardie

Ruth Nadine Picardie (1 May 1964 – 22 September 1997) was an English journalist and editor.

Ruth Picardie
Born	Ruth Nadine Picardie 1 May 1964 Reading, Berkshire, England
Died	22 September 1997 (aged 33)
Cause of death	Breast cancer
Nationality	UK
Education	Llanishen High School
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)	Journalist, editor
Spouse	Matt Seaton
Children	2
Relatives	Justine Picardie (sister)

Life

Ruth Nadine Picardie was born on 1 May 1964 in Reading, Berkshire, the daughter of South African émigrés.^[1] She studied Social Anthropology at King's College, Cambridge. She worked as an editor and journalist for The Guardian and The Independent newspapers in the UK. She also contributed to other publications, including the New Statesman.^[2]

Her memoir of living with breast cancer, Before I Say Goodbye, was published posthumously, culled from five columns written for The Observer's magazine Life, and from her personal correspondence. These were collected and edited by her husband Matt Seaton and her sister Justine Picardie.^[3]

Picardie married Seaton in Worthing, West Sussex, in 1994. They had two children. Seaton was a keen competitive cyclist and is the author of The Escape Artist, which concentrates on his love of amateur cycling but also chronicled his wife's breast cancer.^[4]

Picardie died in Lambeth, London, aged 33. Her sister Justine, along with Beth Wagstaff (who soon afterward became another victim of the disease), established The Lavender Trust in her sister's memory.^[5][6][7] The Trust focuses on raising funds and support for younger women suffering from breast cancer. Picardie and Wagstaff's surgeon, Puvaneswary Markandoo, was subsequently found responsible for other misdiagnosis and negligence in surgical operations on women, and was removed from the medical register ('struck off') by the General Medical Council in December 2011.^[8]

References

1. Helman, Cecil, ed. (2003), "Ruth Picardie", Doctors and Patients - An Anthology, CRC Press, pp. 53–56, doi:10.1201/9781315375939-14, ISBN 978-1-315-37593-9, retrieved 26 May 2024
2. "Picardie, Ruth 1964-1997 | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
3. Picardie, Ruth; Seaton, Matt; Picardie, Justine (1998). Before I Say Goodbye. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-027630-5.
4. Worpole, Ken (18 April 2002). "The Escape Artist by Matt Seaton". The Independent. London. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
5. "The Lavender Trust". 18 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
6. Picardie, Justine (27 January 2006). "The Friday column: breast cancer". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
7. Kelly, Patrick (17 March 1999). "A woman of her time". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
8. Boseley, Sarah (30 December 2011). "Surgeon who missed Ruth Picardie breast cancer struck off by GMC". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2016.