Why you must watch “The Life and Loss of Karen Woo”…

Watching Dr Karen Woo’s family being interviwed is like watching a claustrophobe locked in a stranded lift for five hours – but maybe that’s because I know how they feel about the media…  Being thrust into the spotlight is completely alien to Karen’s mother, father and brother - but they did it for their extrovert, daring, darling Karen. And that is why “The Life and Loss of Karen Woo” is a film you must watch tonight, if you watch nothing else all week. 

Not many of us make a difference, or even really try to.  And I mean truly put ourselves, our life, livelihood, possessions and family’s peace of mind at risk just to try and make someone else’s life better.  

We have our pet causes; a passing blog or tweet catches our attention and our sense of moral outrage is inflamed – “how awful”, we say, clicking on a button for immediate cathartic satisfaction before moving swiftly to the next cause.  After all, we have our own lives to worry about and a plethora of worthwhile causes over which to get heated. 

Which is why the life of Karen Woo, an otherwise fairly ordinary - if extremely attractive – girl, racked with the normal insecurities about career, life and love, is actually extraordinary.  

I had the honour (and the bewilderment) of trying to help the Woo family with the media onslaught following their daughter’s murder last August. For someone used to dealing with industrial incidents and and agricultural developments, it was just a little bit of a rude awakening.  I’m no Max Clifford, but most of the media were brilliant in working to help me ensure the family’s privacy was respected.

And a very private family it is.  In fact I don’t think I’ve ever met a closer, more self-contained unit, which makes it all the more incredible they elected to put themselves through selected media attention at the time – solely to get the Karen Woo Foundation off the starting blocks – and have now participated in this film tonight which follows the efforts of Karen’s fiance, Paddy, to try and establish the chain of events in early August last year which culminated in Karen’s untimely death. 

But it’s not that aspect that captured my attention and my heart.  It was the two-year-old with mine-shattered limbs dragging himself across the floor.  It was the father who walked for days to find a remedy for the debilitating illness his daughter was suffering.  It was the children’s home with the room for mothers to lie and rest after carrying children tens of miles for treatment.  In short, it was the human tragedies that Karen cared about and put herself in grave danger to try and address.

This was Karen’s passion. She was videoing her experiences in the hope she could interest a production company in making a film about these devastating issues. She didn’t seem even remotely put off that the chances of her sealing a deal were slight to nothing.  The irony is she now has her wish, but for the worst of reasons.

So tonight, or if not tonight then at some point over the next week, find time to watch The Life and Loss of Karen Woo on ITV 1 or ITV player, and see some incredible footage of Karen talking, as if from the grave, about the dreams, ambitions and courage of a very ordinary girl who really put herself out there for what she cared about.  

Then go to the Karen Woo Foundation website, run entirely by volunteers from Karen’s circle of family and friends, and show that having watched how this unique person sacrificed her life and future happiness for something she believed so strongly in, you can now click to support something you really believe in.