No matter how you feel about Jade Goody – the mouthy reality television star, whose often stupid comments have stunned the world – you have to admire her courage and extreme bravery as she deals with her terminal cancer.

Before her diagnosis of cancer of the cervix, I would never have suggested the mother-of-two as a role model.

But facing the worse possible news, Jade has stepped up and dealt with her fate more bravely than I can ever imagine.

Just like any mother at the forefront of her mind are her two young boys.

These two little boys, Bobby, five, and Freddy, four, are facing a long hard struggle when Jade is laid to rest.

Now Jade is doing all she can now to prepare the youngsters for a future without the loving help of a mother- which is often taken for granted.

Even though she has been criticised for showing intimate details of her struggle with her disease on television and living through the newspapers, I cannot fault her. She is doing it to raise funds to help look after her boys in the future.

Jade first became known through Big Brother so it is hardly unusual that she would look to reality television to support her through her last struggle.

On Big Brother, she quickly became a national figure of fun for appearing naked and asking questions such as “is east Angular abroad?” and “Rio de Janeiro, ain’t that a person?”

But the 27-year-old has come a long way since then – she has grown up and become a woman, a mother and a wife.

Jade has recently said she can look back and be proud of what she has done, saying “I’ve achieved more in 27 years than some achieve in their lifetime.”

And her legacy will continue long into the future – many clinics up and down the country are reporting an increase in women going to have their smear tests – known as ‘the Jade effect’.

If Jade’s illness saves one women’s life, she will have made an enormous difference.

But despite Jade being diagnosed with terminal cancer, the age restriction on smears show no sign of being reduced and is still set at 25 years old.

Her struggle has highlighted the importance of lowering the cancer smear test age to 18 years.

At the moment cervical cancer screening starts at 25 in England, compared to 20 in Scotland and Wales.

It is the second most common cancer in women under 35 years old after breast cancer, but the vast majority of cases still occur in older women.

Around 3,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK and the prognosis is good if it is caught early.

Now according to reports, demand for smears is up by a fifth in some areas since Goody was diagnosed.

Jade has been told she has only weeks to live but she has used them to the best advantage – she has got married and christened with her two young boys.

With Mother’s Day on Sunday, she is an inspiration to mothers across the country.

Mother’s Day is all about thanking our mothers for their help and showing them how much they are appreciated.

And for Jade, it will be one last year with her sons.

She could be bitter about how unfair it is she was only given 27 years of life but she is preparing to die with dignity and honour and can only be admired.

As a mother, her right to see her children grow up and become men has been denied. She will not be able to watch as they get married and have children of their own and nor will she be able to carry out the mundane daily tasks of looking after them.

No matter your thoughts on how Jade has conducted her life, she is a tremendous example to all of us.

By Rebecca Lawrence