Dressing their Christmas tree was a time of powerfully-mixed emotions for Malcolm and Anne McKie - a time for tears and a time for smiles. For recalling the past and preparing for the future.

A future without their bright, intelligent daughter Sarah, who in the summer of 2001, aged only 19, died of breast cancer.

One of Malcolm and Anne's lasting memories of their daughter is of her smiling face as she sat surrounded by presents at her home in Haworth during Christmas 2000.

Malcolm has captured the image on film. Sarah is bald. She has just finished gruelling chemotherapy and the prognosis is good. But tragically she was not to return to Sheffield Hallam University the following October to continue her maths degree.

Sarah died in June 2001 - after falling into unconsciousness while sleeping next to her mum - the cancer having spread to her brain and spine. She was one of the youngest victims of breast cancer in the country.

But that photographic image is how Malcolm and Anne like to remember their only daughter. Full of the joy of a young life.

"That image typifies her," said Malcolm, 52. "She was always a happy smiling person and even after undergoing all that treatment and having no hair, she could still smile.

"She knew how ill she was - she was an intelligent girl - and probably knew a lot more than she let on. But she loved Christmas and nothing was going to spoil it."

This Christmas the McKie home is festooned with decorations, just as Sarah would have liked it. A big photographic portrait of her, bedecked in tinsel, hangs from the wall.

"She loved wrapping presents," said Anne, 50. "So much so that when she bought her dad five pairs of socks she wrapped each one individually."

It's that recollection of their daughter's sense of fun that has also sustained them.

For the past 12 months they have been involved in a fundraising campaign launched in Sarah's name and in support of the Airedale Hospital cancer unit where she was treated.

"We have grieved but I think all the things happening since her death has put some of the grieving on hold and we might have to face some difficult times ahead," said Anne.

"But at the same time, the campaign has helped with the healing process," stressed Malcolm. "They say time is a healer and we now face 2003 without her.

"I'm hoping that now the campaign is wound up, we can finally lay Sarah to rest. It has been very hard for me to keep seeing her in the newspapers although we are so grateful for all the kindness and generosity people have shown."

"The fact that Sarah's death might help somebody else was something I wanted to hold on to," said Anne, who suffered a stroke before Sarah became ill and has limited use of her right leg and cannot use her right arm.

A high point of the last 12 months was the surprise presentation of Sarah's degree from her university.

Tutors decided to grant the posthumous award based on the work she had already completed.

"We were totally surprised. We thought we were just going to the ceremony. I was very moved when they presented it to us. Sarah was the first person in both our families to go to university," said Anne.

Sarah, a former pupil of Oakbank Grammar School, Keighley, died less than a year after discovering the disease. She had both breasts removed and underwent six courses of chemotherapy, but eventually developed a tumour in her spine and brain.

She died on June 16, 2001 in Airedale General Hospital. The disease also claimed the lives of her grandmother and great-grandmother.