From lung cancer op to Cabinet... in just 4 months
RETURNING to the Cabinet this week, there were few signs of the shocking ordeal endured by James Brokenshire.
The Bexley MP had a third of his right lung removed in January after a cancer diagnosis forced him to quit as Northern Ireland Secretary on his 50th birthday.
The non-smoker had been in the job for barely 14 months when his world turned upside down.
Doctors told him he had lung cancer – which kills more people in the UK than prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer combined.
He had been on a family day out at Hillsborough Castle, Ulster, in September when he first coughed up blood. ‘It came as a complete shock,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know what to think. Your heart starts pounding and you get a knot at the core of your stomach.’ A fitness fanatic, he ran regufocuses larly on a treadmill in his living room and hadn’t been feeling unwell.
But on his wife Cathy’s recommendation, he went to see his GP. An x-ray ruled out infection. Referred to Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, he underwent a CT scan, which revealed some inflammation.
Next came a bronchoscopy – a camera inserted into his lung. The procedure took place on December 7, the day the Prime Minister announced her breakthrough in the first phase of Brexit talks.
Working late with Mrs May the previous night, he had told her why he wouldn’t be around the following day. She was ‘absolutely brilliant’, he says, telling him: ‘ For goodness sake, you’ve got to put your health first’. Shortly afterwards, doctors confirmed they had found a tumour, although they still weren’t sure if it was cancerous. Waiting for the results of a biopsy was the hardest part, he says. ‘There are lots of thoughts racing through your mind.’
Over Christmas, and by now fearing the worst, the family went on a longplanned holiday to Australia to visit relatives. He didn’t tell his wider family, although he had a ‘ hard conversation’ with his children – Sophie, 15, Jemma, 13, and Ben, 11.
‘You have to be honest, but try not to scare them. By that stage I knew something was pretty seriously wrong. You’re looking to the future and thinking, “is there a future?”’
Having never smoked, the MP was worried that if it was cancer, it had spread from elsewhere.
The final diagnosis on January 2 confirmed cancer, but doctors said it wasn’t a secondary tumour and they had caught it early enough to operate.
He told the Prime Minister he would have to resign. She was ‘amazingly supportive’, he says. The surgery removed one third of his right lung, the entire top lobe.
He bears a scar on his back and two on his side. ‘Some people describe it as keyhole surgery, but they use pretty large keys,’ he jokes.
He is brimming with praise for the surgeons and says he was ‘privileged to have seen the NHS at its incredible best’. But it’s clear he thinks the NHS too much on stopping people smoking and not enough on treating what many campaigners say is an overlooked ‘Cinderella cancer’.
Last year there were 46,400 cases of lung cancer in Britain and 16,300 deaths – representing 21 per cent of all cancer fatalities. It kills more women than breast cancer.
‘Too many of these cases are coming just far too late,’ he says. ‘In two thirds the cancer has already spread and they can’t have surgery.
‘That’s something I feel very strongly about having been through what I have. Frankly too many people are dying because of the very late diagnosis of lung cancer. It is the biggest cancer killer.’ He is now campaigning for a national screening programme for those most at risk.
This week, Mr Brokenshire sat behind Jeremy Hunt in the Commons
‘Something was seriously wrong ’ ‘Bright new future’
as the Health Secretary announced that 450,000 women were not invited for breast scans and up to 270 may have died. It was ‘sad and painful’ and it is right there is a ‘full and proper review’, he said.
Despite getting the all-clear, he will have regular CT scans for the next five years. He says he is immensely grateful to Cathy’s insistence that he sought help: ‘ I didn’t mind her nagging me. We blokes can be rubbish about this kind of stuff.’
His wife is also, he says, delighted at his return to the Cabinet. Amber Rudd’s resignation over the Windrush scandal took Sajid Javid from the Housing, Communities and Local Government department and Mr Brokenshire, who entered Parliament in 2005, replaced him on Monday.
A Remainer, he has embraced Brexit and is positive about the country’s ‘bright new future’.
He is positive about his own future, too, and confident in taking on his new brief, despite the drama of the past eight months.