When I first found out about my own cancer, I had just started on the wards as a medical student.
Secure as a Christian from a Christian home I had friends and a good career path ahead of me. My story is not a blueprint to follow but an example to ponder.
Another jungle
My first three years were spent in Africa where my father was a missionary doctor. Then we moved back to England to take over the family General Practice in Bristol. From eight to 18 years I was at boarding school, feeling insecure, unaccepted and different from my peers with a combination of a stammer, which I still have, and my Christian faith. My father died of cancer when I was 11. My child's mind was confident that Dad was safe in heaven, but also it closed out some of the pain and grief. Dad's suffering and death are recorded in his own book Dying - the greatest adventure of my life (CEMF).
