IfIhadthe choiceof livinglonger andnot having cancer,I wouldn’t takeit
Terminally ill Fi tells how being given the bleakest of diagnoses was a ‘gift’ that has shown her what really matters
IF Fi Munro got the chance to swap the cancer that is killing her for the life she had before, she would turn it down.
Fi, 31, had been happily married for two years and was hoping to start a family when she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer last year.
She said: “Cancer has taught me about what happens in life and it isn’t about having a long life – it’s about having a good life.
“If my choice had been to live longer and not have cancer, not to have the insight that I’ve got, then I wouldn’t take it. I think I would rather have my cancer diagnosis and have changed my life the way I have.”
Fi, of Perthshire, added: “I was kind of wasting life before and I never would have appreciated life if it hadn’t been for cancer.
“So cancer has definitely been a gift, and if my exchange for that is time, then I’m willing to accept that gift.”
Award-winning documentary-maker Sue Bourne – who herself was treated for breast cancer seven years ago – isn’t shocked by Fi’s remarkable admission.
Last year, she spent several months travelling the country interviewing dozens of people, including health researcher Fi, who had been given a terminal diagnosis and knew they may have just months to live.
Sue told each of them she wanted to make a documentary that was not about dying, but about living