I am not afraid...
Courage of Tessa Jowell as she talks emotionally about brain cancer fight
DAME Tessa Jowell yesterday gave an emotional account of her battle with aggressive brain cancer, declaring: ‘I am not afraid’.
The former Labour cabinet minister said she would have been unable to cope without family support and is unsure how long she has left.
Yet she appeared more concerned with campaigning on behalf of other cancer patients than dwelling on her own situation. Dame Tessa, 70, revealed she is travelling to Germany to undergo pioneering immunotherapy – and made an impassioned plea for innovative cancer treatments to be offered on the NHS.
In her first interview since she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour last May, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I am not afraid. I feel very clear about my sense of purpose and what I want to do... and how do I know how long it’s going to last? I’m certainly going to do everything I can to make it a very long time.’
Interviewer Nick Robinson – who was treated for lung cancer in 2015 – was told Dame Tessa was ‘absolutely 100 per cent’ focused on trying to stay alive.
TV viewers – who saw a recording of the interview on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show – could clearly see the toll her eight-month battle with cancer has taken.
But it was clear that the disease has not dented Dame Tessa’s spirit. The mother- of-two was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma after suffering a seizure that left her unconscious for ‘three or four days’.
The diagnosis had been ‘distressing’ as there were no symptoms, but the peer said she felt ‘strangely competent’ at being able to cope with it. However, she has now exhausted the treatments available on the NHS and has had to seek alternatives abroad.
Speaking from her North London home, where she lives with husband David Mills, former culture secretary Dame Tessa said: ‘I got to the point in the NHS in London where I couldn’t be given any more treatment.
‘But it was very clear that if I went to Germany then I had a chance of taking out this immunotherapy, a new experiment, and I was and I am prepared to try that.’ Immunotherapy works by helping the body’s own defence system recognise and attack cancer cells.
The Labour peer has been invited to speak in the Lords today
‘100% focused on staying alive’
and is expected to call for the introduction of ‘alternative trials’, where several different treatments can be tried at the same time.
Explaining the importance of such trials, she said: ‘That [adaptive trials] is exactly the kind of risk that patients should be free to take, it should be a risk that they have the chance to take, and it’s certainly what somebody like me wants. I actually see that the opportunity to take this risk is longer than the likelihood of my life surviving for a very long time.’
When asked why she had not simply ‘curled up on the sofa’ and spent time with her family rather than return to Parliament, Dame Tessa said it would be ‘impossible’ not to do something to help other cancer patients. Brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer, and glioblastoma has an average survival rate of just 12 to 18 months.
Highlighting the crucial support she has received from her family, the former minister said: ‘I don’t think you can do it all on your own, unless there are other people who share your feelings, who will actually join you and say “Look what we’ve got to do”.’
Her daughter Jess, a musician, became emotional as she was interviewed with her mother, saying: ‘We feel happy every day and mum always says we are the luckiest people in the world to know love like this, and that informs real happiness every day.’ Asked if she felt she was ‘project managing’ her mother’s illness, she said: ‘I am project managing it.
‘Glioblastoma tumours can grow at a rate of 1cm a month. Really, every day counts. Why are we waiting three or four weeks for another scan or for another appointment on this? We need to do this tomor- row, because in another month’s time we are going to be, potentially, in a much more difficult position. It is about trying to expedite the process.’
Meanwhile, the Labour peer’s husband said he anticipates a time when his wife might be offered a treatment where the ‘ cure or attempted cure is actually likely to be worse than the disease’. However, he said it was important ‘not to jump the fences before they are right in front of you’. Praise flooded in from listeners and viewers for Dame Tessa’s bravery in speaking out.
Other Labour politicians, including Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman commended her courage on social media. Food writer Ella Mills – who is married to Dame Tessa’s son Matthew, posted online: ‘Despite the challenge of this she’s spent the entire time thinking about and finding ways to help other people going through what she is. The last eight months have been harder than anything else we’ve experienced, yet we’ve been lucky enough to experience more love than ever, and today we just wanted to send so much love to anyone else going through something like this.’
‘Lucky to know love like this’
THIS was the day UK employment reached another peak, while business leaders from 85 countries ranked Britain the world’s fourth most important trading partner.
It was also the day – wonder of wonders! – when that former prophet of doom, David Cameron, mustered the grace to admit that Brexit is not turning out to be the disaster he predicted. Cue joy in heaven over a sinner who repenteth.
Expect no such honesty, however, from Remoaner-in-chief Tony Blair. Deaf to the facts – jobs, manufacturing, export orders, business confidence and the public finances all looking up – he spent yesterday in Davos, Switzerland, belittling his country’s chances outside the EU.
Long may this money-grubbing fantasist continue to sneer at Britain. With every treacherous word he utters, he recruits more converts to Brexit. YES, it is understandable that Great Ormond Street Hospital takes a dim view of some of the fundraising activities of the Presidents Club. Indeed, the louche behaviour shown by some of the club’s plutocratic donors towards the scantily clad women paid to entertain them is indefensible. But as the hospital says it will return the huge sums it’s been given by the club, we can’t help feeling it’s a pity such virtue-signalling may deprive sick children of the care they so desperately need. THIS paper has had many differences with former Labour Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, not least over her plans to introduce supercasinos. But after a lifetime devoted to public service, her courage and dignity in facing up to her aggressive brain tumour are truly inspiring. We extend our admiration and warmest wishes.