How to live a bonus life
BE LIKE TIM. SAVE A LIFEFORGIVE ME. I was playing with my blog and forgot that creating a post would trigger a notification to all of you very lovely people who have showed an interest in what I'm writing about... ...and then you may well have found a password-protected post with a cryptic title and nothing at all of interest … Continue reading Oh no — that wasn’t meant to happen!
If being famous means helping people with blood cancer by telling my story to 5,200+ people at the Royal Albert Hall for Christmas Carols with Bloodwise, then it's awesome.
I’ve always had a baby face. Even with the beard, I’m usually assumed to be far younger than I am. So imagine my surprise when I gazed lovingly at my wife, only to find her staring not into my eyes, but at an indeterminate area above my eyebrows: the clinching evidence that I really am … Continue reading The surprising joy of getting wrinkles
“I had a good lunch and now I’m first in the queue to board,” Mariacristina texted me as she waited for her flight to Naples. I didn’t understand – where was the usual last-minute duty-free shopping? Why wasn’t she dashing to the gate as the menacing final boarding call boomed out across the airport? In all … Continue reading The liberating power of taking responsibility
There's something special about the number three. The rule of thirds. The Holy Trinity. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Earlier this year I turned three. Three years ago, my new birth day (Day Zero, the day of my transplant) had a lot riding on it, to say the least. My first birthday was a huge … Continue reading The unadulterated joy of three
I remember my first day at Goldsmiths in 2007, officially registering for the Masters in Journalism I had decided to pursue as I neared the end of my chemotherapy course. I’d almost forgotten I was still on chemotherapy: a measly pill of a low dose could have been my daily vitamins. My hair had grown … Continue reading The cancer look – or, why I have a beard
I’ve been glued to the Six Nations rugby tournament. Mariacristina, on the other hand, is baffled at why I want to spend a large portion of my weekend watching two or three dozen grown men kicking and throwing a ball around. I sympathise with her view, even if I lost the bet that in marrying an Italian … Continue reading Life lessons on and off the pitch
"Anyone who signs up to the stem cell register must have at least a minimal level of goodness," I was telling our guests on Saturday, not long before they went on their way. And it's true. You're offering to help a stranger – if you're found one day to be a match – with no benefit … Continue reading ♫ And you were there, my good man ♫
I probably shouldn't have been celebrating with Prosecco, but last week I turned two. Before then, though, since my fabulous first second (second first?) birthday on 26th March last year, I had discovered that my first first birthday was pretty fantastic, too. Mariacristina and I were staying at my father's with my sister Harriet, her husband Duncan and … Continue reading Terrible twos: remembrance of things past
It's probably no surprise, given my continuing existence, that were I to be given the opportunity to change any of the decisions made regarding my treatment, I wouldn't alter a thing. However shaky some of the steps may have seemed at the time, and whatever slings and arrows outrageous fortune may have flung at me as a result, it's … Continue reading Me and my immunotherapy, on the national news
