Staring into the eyes of death

The Poet, The Steel Town and the unnoticed heroine

The night I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, my world seemed to tilt. From an oddly reassuring comment by my consultant – 'If you're going to get cancer, this is the best to have' – to the inward implosion of thoughts about mortality and the future, the journey was tumultuous.

Suddenly, from zero knowledge of anything cancerous, I found myself hyperf…