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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Dr Rachel Mann

Good morning.

Perhaps the most remarkable change in medicine in my lifetime is the survival rate for cancer. While I know only too well how cancer strikes people with ruthless indifference, it is testimony to modern medicine and charity campaigns that so many survive and thrive for years after a cancer diagnosis. The Big C continues to be a huge global killer – the World Health Organisation estimates that 1 in 6 deaths are due to cancer – but human ingenuity has met it with increasing skill.

This World Cancer Day reminds us that the work of medics, charities and governments is far from over.

Hope, of course, is found not only in science, but in people’s very human responses. For some, the ‘battle’ metaphor works and I am moved by the way some people ‘fight cancer’. Other people, of course, find that combative metaphor unhelpful, especially because not everyone ‘wins’, and find other strategies to cope. Today I think especially of my friend Alan who died last year. His cancer was ruthless and took him quickly. When we first spoke after his diagnosis, his dignity was awesome. He asked of me – a priest – one thing: to bless him. It was a request which moved me to tears.

I did my best to bless him in the name of God. I think what moved me most was Alan’s depth of trust in something bigger than him. He was realistic, and was worried for his family.. But ultimately he was determined not to be defined by illness but by blessing.

God, be with us in our triumphs and our sufferings; help us to know your presence in whatever we face. Show your love in the support we receive from others and which we offer in return.

Amen.