‘Life has thrown curveballs, but our friendship has been a constant’
Karen Walker, 58, from Hinton Parva, Wiltshire, and Gill Robinson, 61, from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, were brought together by an animal charity 31 years ago and their shared humour and love of spa days has helped them through some tricky times.
Gill and I first met in 1993 through our love of cats. Gill was a foster carer for Cats Protection, and I adopted two cats, Cassie and Bambi, from her. I was inspired to volunteer for the charity, and our friendship developed through our fundraising and welfare activities. Our lives were quite different – she was married and mum to nine-year-old twins and a son of 10, while I was married but didn’t yet have children.
She was there for me when I divorced in 2000 and also when I was diagnosed with breast cancer the following year. Her support was invaluable throughout my treatment, and I was there for her when her marriage ended. Even in tough times, she found a way to make us both laugh.
Over the years, we found a new hobby together: the spa! Spa trips became our ‘thing’. A treasured date in our diaries, it gave us respite from the everyday. It’s become a ritual we’ve turned to in good times and bad.
When I remarried in 2003, Gill was delighted for me – especially when we discovered I was having twins, as it was thought my cancer treatment may have left me infertile. Lucy and Sophie were born on 22 December 2005. It was a problematic birth and we stayed in hospital. By Christmas morning, I still hadn’t been able to shower since giving birth and I was desperately trying to feed my hungry babies with just one functioning breast.
There was one person I knew would understand how I was feeling. Gill rushed straight over, despite having
She dropped everything on Christmas Day when I needed her most
her own family to care for. I can’t think of many people who would drop everything for a friend on Christmas Day. But that’s just Gill – always there for her many friends.
When the twins were little, I had difficult rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups and I couldn’t always lift them. I’d sometimes compare myself to other mums who seemed like superheroes. But Gill made me feel great and continues to do so.
Life has thrown us curveballs. There’s no doubt we feel and look older, but Gill makes me feel like a big kid again. In that way, she’s ageless. There are so many qualities to choose from – generous, kind, hilarious – but perhaps it’s her youthful sense of fun that I love most about her.