On Being Chipper

There were just a few of us in the room, gathered round a table. I had been invited to speak. … More

Standing up to cancer?

I am not completely stupid. I know celebrity culture is here to stay. As my children frequently remind me, ‘It … More

I had bumped into a friend at the cash machine. We greeted each other, as we always do, with a … More

Dear Cancer It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Fifteen years, to be precise. To the day. Amazing to realise it … More

Dear Arthur Frank I’m writing to say thank you for your extraordinary book At the Will of the Body. It is … More

Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital 1 The IV drips its slow news. So long, lean and turbulent morning! … More

There were just a few of us in the room, gathered round a table. I had been invited to … More

A Tuesday, appropriately. (Tuesday being the day I was formally diagnosed.) Poetic, it strikes me now. But at the time, … More

After they left, the house went very quiet. No one really knew about the quietness but me. I played a … More

Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of my diagnosis with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), an aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system. I … More

Tracks 2 am: moonlight. The train has stopped out in the middle of the plain. Far away, points of … More

We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its business. … More

The way I found out, just as with my diagnosis, was via a segment of a conversation about other things. … More

‘I heard the most amazing thing today. It was a bloke off the radio, don’t remember his name, does that … More

On certain afternoons I am certain it has come back. A twinge in my right side, where the pain … More

We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its business. … More

‘I am so, so sorry.’ ‘You’re going to be fine.’ ‘Fight it, you know you’re a fighter.’ ‘Are we going … More

This is a momentous week. It marks the tenth anniversary of the day I was told I had cancer. To … More