Archive Homepage - 9/26
34 years, 1,799 covers and 47,153 stories from PEOPLE magazine's history for you to enjoy
Latest News!
- David Duchovny Leaves Rehab for Sex Addiction
- Former American Idol Star Paris Bennett Has a Girl
- Spoiler Alert! Misty's Official Dancing Decision
- Drew Barrymore's Priorities 'Have Changed So Much'
- Lynne Spears: 'Things Are Looking Up Again'
- Brooke Burke: Misty May Is 'Out of' DWTS
- Leonardo DiCaprio Has 'No New News' About Marriage
People Top 5
LAST UPDATE: Monday October 06, 2008 01:10PM EDT
PEOPLE Top 5 are the most-viewed stories on the site over the past three days, updated every 60 minutes
- May 16, 2005
- Vol. 63
- No. 19
A Mom's Last Wishes
Before Dying of Cancer at 28, Helen Harcombe Left Her Husband Detailed—and Touching—instructions on How to Care for Their 7-Year-Old Daughter
Helen Harcombe loved the simple joys of motherhood: combing her daughter's hair, taking her shopping, filling her Christmas stocking. Then the worst happened. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, the mom from Porth, Wales, was told last year she had six months to live. She died Dec. 28, leaving behind daughter Ffion, 7, husband Anthony, 31, and an unusual legacy—a three-page set of instructions, written on notepaper, telling her husband the little things he should know about raising their daughter. Once word of Harcombe's "mummy manual" hit the British press, expressions of sympathy poured in; Prince Charles met the bereaved father and daughter on May 2. Ffion's grandmother says the girl "enjoyed every second" of that meeting, and Anthony says the advice from Helen is a help already: "I tell Ffion she's looking after us, bossing us about, caring for us from heaven."
More in the Archive
Advertisement
Treat Yourself! 4 Preview Issues
The most buzzed about stars this minute!
Promotion










