Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Clare has cancer. She came into the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Truths studio with her son Luke, who's nearly 8, to explain why they can laugh about it together ...

It was 20 years ago when Clare was first told that she had cancer. "The shock is incredible ..." But the way Clare was told made the world of difference to her, "This man, Richard Counter, sat down on my level - his knees were almost touching mine - really close. He explained that I had a tumour of the thyroid. I said "Hang on a minute - do you mean I've got cancer?" He looked straight into my face and gave me a huge beaming grin and said, "Yes! That's right, cancer. Now say it again out loud." I said, "I've got cancer?" He said, "Yes! Right! Now that's important. Never be frightened of that word. Accepting it is the beginning of fighting it and winning."

This very positive attitude, learned many years ago, has help Clare enormously in dealing with a recent diagnosis of stomach cancer. Two years ago, Baz, Clare's husband was also diagnosed with throat cancer. Clare says, "We know lots of people who've had cancer and survived, but people don't talk about it much ..." Luke interjects, "As we all know, not too many people die of cancer, though do they?"

If Luke asks questions, Clare always tries to tell him what he wants to know. "There's been an awful lot of it about in his life. I think the fact that I'd never made a secret that I've had cancer before has helped him a lot."

Humour is also essential to help mother and son deal with the illness. Luke has a nickname for Clare's new tumour, 'Mouldy Wart' which, Clare explains, developed out a character's name in Luke's favourite Harry Potter book. "By giving it a name, we could distance the tumour from me. It's like an alien invader," says Clare, "We made all sorts of jokes about it ..." In about a week, Clare starts chemotherapy and Luke has already decided on a name for the pump which will be used during the treatment; "Head Wig". It's another Harry Potter inspiration. "I thought it would be quite funny to call it "Head Wig" because Mummy told me her hair would start falling out," giggles Luke.

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