A man battling incurable bowel cancer has accused Labour of failing to deliver on a promised personal cancer plan for all patients, and has called on Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to act.
Robert Fisk, writing for the Daily Express, said he was inspired to think about his own death while trying to solve a travel insurance problem. He explained that many insurance companies will not cover him because he has incurable cancer, unless he is given a prognosis for when he will die.
He said this limits his holiday options, as he does not want to travel without insurance or rely on a crowdfunding page to bring him home. Instead, he came up with an unusual solution: to be cremated and have his ashes given to guests at his wake in small bags, so they could sprinkle them while on holiday.
A creative solution to a difficult problem
Fisk said his preference would be a natural woodland burial, but he joked that being cremated and sharing his ashes would mean he could travel to exotic locations, and France. He also imagined the awkward moment if friends were stopped by customs officers while carrying small bags of grey powder.
He noted that Google reveals a human's ashes weigh approximately 3.5% of the person's original living body weight. He calculated that, unless he gets beach body ready, he would leave 3.4kg of ash, enough to give 100g to 34 people for a holiday in the sun.
NHS mental health support needed
While waiting for scan results to see whether his tumours have grown, Fisk said it is difficult to know when he will die, but it is easy to say the NHS needs to do much more to support cancer patients dealing with such thoughts. He noted that someone is diagnosed with cancer at least every 75 seconds in the UK.
He said most of these people will not be told their cancer is incurable, but the disease will still bring thoughts of death to many. The Daily Express has been campaigning for mental health support to be a key part of the package cancer patients receive during and after treatment.
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged that all patients would have a personal cancer plan, including support for their mental health needs. But Fisk said this has not materialised under the new Health Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who he claims has been busy with other matters.
He said the campaign will continue to put pressure on the Government, reminding them that people's lives are at stake and that they need to get a move on. He warned that if personal cancer plans are not rolled out by the start of next year, Labour will have him to answer to.
