Published Friday, 17 February 2012
Like little Patrick Campbell. He is just 7 but he is facing the fight of his life against a rare form of cancer.
I was in touch with his mum the other day, who says he is continuing to defy the odds as he recovers from a bone marrow operation which they never thought he'd be able to have.
He now faces tests to find out if that bone marrow op has been successful.
But with each step of this recovery path Mairead says they feel they have a little more permission to hope.
A Dutch man is another stand-out character. I spoke to him in his darkened east Belfast living room - curtains drawn tight - after another yet racist attack on his family's home.
His beautiful little one-year-old boy lay asleep on the couch; an image which seemed so out of sync with the atmosphere of fear prevailing in the house.
Circumstances - or those who attacked him - labelled this man a victim.
And yet this is a label which very much frustrates the articulate Dutch man. He wants to be an agent of change.
He's keen to encourage people to raise their heads above the parapet and stand against the racists.
'I am in Belfast because I feel this county has a future', he says.
These faces - these moments - these stories - are what make this a job that I love to do.
People can surprise you with their stories and their reactions and that's what this blog is about - the true characters I'm meeting along the way.
I think it's always the people you remember...