Cancer patient given just months to live ‘really positive’ four years on

A 76-year-old man who was given just months to live is now “more positive than ever” four years on.

Tim Strugnell, who lives in Essex, was told in 2021 that he had “months not years” left to live from the prostate cancer he had been fighting for nine years. But following new treatment, the cancer has shrunk dramatically, with Mr Strugnell’s PSA score plummeting from 177 to between 10 and 17.

Under Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, patients deemed to be terminally ill and with less than six months to live would be allowed to receive help to kill themselves. The legislation will be debated in the House of Lords later this year.

‘Bright future’

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Strugnell said he was “really, really positive” about his new treatment.

“My whole life has changed – I have a lot more energy and enthusiasm and I am not thinking ‘I don’t know how long I’ve got’. I am more positive now than I ever been.”

He explained: “I am not going to behave like some 76 year olds I know. I have this kind of energy about me and my life, so the future holds lots for me. If you keep positive then you and your body can deal with it, but if you give up it will take over.”

Diagnosis

In a visit arranged by The Christian Institute, a cancer patient from Australia recently travelled to the UK to urge parliamentarians to vote against Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill.

Stephanus Breytenbach, who was given just a few weeks to live back in 2022, lives in the state of Victoria where assisted suicide is legal and marketed as ‘Voluntary Assisted Dying’.

Reflecting on the moment when he was told he only had a short time to live, Stephanus told The Times: “It’s a shocking diagnosis, you’re emotionally completely down, going through a rollercoaster. Which means you’re very susceptible to prompts and people’s opinions.”

“When you’ve had a diagnosis like that, and a doctor comes and suggests to you assisted dying, or a family member suggests it, I think most people would seriously consider it. And that’s wrong, in my opinion, it’s not the right time to think about those things.”