LIGHT RELIEF
Cancer is a Drag charity founder Alan Bugg reveals how the power of drag helped him — and others — fight the disease
“A FRIEND OF MINE VISITED ME IN A DRESS AND SAID ‘CANCER IS A DRAG’ TO CHEER ME UP”
Cancer is a Drag is a charity that holds drag performances to raise funds and lessen the load for those living with cancer. Its founder Alan Bugg tells Attitude about his own cancer journey, why he set up the organisation, and how, after years of hosting drag events, he has finally made his drag debut…
Iwas diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2010; it was non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is a blood cancer. It was heartbreaking news; I was there with my partner, now of 21 years, and we both cried our eyes out. But that’s how it is. As a gay man, I did wonder whether or not the cancer was caused by my lifestyle; all of the clubbing and partying and fun that I had, not looking after myself properly. But I was assured by the doctors all the time that it was not because of who I am; this is just something that I have got. The first person I told was my brother, but I didn’t tell my mum or dad right away. Then I told a couple of very close friends, who got very upset. Them getting upset got me really upset. But in my mind, I thought, they don’t really understand. My grandma died of cancer and I used to go and see her every night for the last three months, so I knew it was going to be a major battle.
It was really difficult because you go through the physical struggles, like the treatment, the chemotherapy, and it makes you feel terrible. But at the same time, you start to realise that there’s other problems that you’re going to go through with regards to work, paying your mortgage or rent — things like that. And that is very stressful.
I was a primary school teacher and I had to have a year off work for the first lot of chemo. I went into remission, then it came back seven months later. I’d gone back to work, so I had to take another seven months off for a second series of chemo treatment. And it went on like that three times. It was very unsettling and very difficult.
To know that you can’t go back to doing what you want to do, or be who you are was very depressing. I had quite bad suicidal thoughts during the second year of my cancer and had to go to counselling. At King’s College Hospital, during my third diagnosis, I was referred to Macmillan Cancer Support for counselling. They sent me to Dimbleby Cancer Care, and I had an amazing consoler that really helped me out a lot. They supported me with my financial worries; I thought I was going to lose my flat, I couldn’t pay the mortgage payments any more, my partner was out of work and I’d been off work for more than a year, so I had no money coming in whatsoever. And it was Macmillan that said to me, you can get a mortgage holiday for three months.
During all my time at hospital, going to appointments and sitting in waiting rooms, I met hundreds of people that were going through the same thing as me. Many were struggling financially and in many other ways emotionally. I thought, if I could do anything to help other people and to pay Macmillan back, I would. And it came to me from a friend of mine visiting me in hospital. He came to my room in a dress and said to me, “Cancer is a drag” to cheer me up. It inspired me to create a little fundraising group for Macmillan called Cancer is a Drag.
We decided to launch our fundraising group at World Pride 2012 in London. We all dressed up as drag doctors and nurses. We had a lot of fun, it got our name out there and we got tons of support from the LGBTQ+ community, which was amazing.
We now have more than 20 drag ambassadors for our charity, including our newest drag king, Louis Cypher. One of our originals is Baga Chipz,