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Greetings on this wet winter’s day in the South East of England where most of the trees are naked and Christmas lights are starting to flicker on people’s houses. I’m told it could take as long as a year to disappear, but “disappear” is music to my ears and “as long as a year” chimes a few encouraging notes too! Time to clear our clutter and shift some energy after all this time living with cancer in the house we currently rent (mortgages not being available to peeps with ‘terminal’ diagnoses). Our new place is smaller, but it’s full of light and looks out across the countryside from a much bigger garden where a tsunami of joy swept through me on bright blue, chilly winter’s day.

The ‘lifeshock’ on this occasion was hearing that the primary tumour in my lung has grown for the first time in nearly four years. I have been incredibly busy this year, especially with the publication of my new book, which has left little time to feel this loss as it deserves to be felt. Second, I have been asking my oncologist to Cyber Knife my primary tumour for two years. , Keith Stuart’s magical ‘Days of Wonder’ and my epically talented friend Chris Morgan Jones’ audacious thriller, ‘The Good Sister’ (

In February I led my first More To Life weekend course (my fave thing to do) in two years. In March I led an international leadership retreat in Atlanta for the More To Life Foundation and laid my beloved father to rest. In April I co-led a stunning six-day course called Sixth Sense in South Africa and saw my darling daughter turn eight. In June I will deliver a six-day course in Gloucestershire called Living Creatively (might know something about that) and return home the day before it is published.

Exactly a year ago, multiple brain tumours were discovered for the third time in as many years, including activity in the meninges (brain lining and fluid pathways) which usually means “game over”. This week my brain scan showed EVERY tumour had gone except for an 8mm spot in the area where a big bugger had knocked me off balance all summer. In addition to my complementary treatments, I am on a new chemo drug (Osimertinib) that I didn’t qualify for under the existing licence but managed to get my hands on (with some incredible help). We doubled the dose to zap it into my brain, which is not without side effects.