A SHINING EXAMPLE

I have supported the work of the Teenage Cancer Trust for some time now. Occasionally, they ask if I would visit young people in hospital to offer understanding and perhaps inspiration.

As you know, where cancer is concerned, my philosophy has been that it doesn’t have to be a life sentence. You can beat it – life can get better. But obviously not everyone does get better.

I once visited a 12-year-old boy. We really connected. In some ways, he reminded me of myself. When we first met, he didn’t know where the cancer was going to take him but, like me, he was committed to being as positive as he could be about his situation.

Then, one day, he did know. He wasn’t going to live to see the next Christmas. I didn’t know what to say to him for a while. What could I do? I skirted around the issue until I realized that was exactly what I hated when people did it to me. So I asked him what he wanted to do in the time he had left. He wanted to spend as much time as he could with his brother, and he wanted to make up with a school friend with whom he had had a disagreement over nothing. I don’t know if I helped him in any way. I was almost embarrassed to be there – as though I was taunting him with the fact I had survived and he was going to die. All I could do was be the best friend that I could be.