It’s difficult when you write a column to work out how much to give away; where to draw the line between the bits of your life that you keep private, and the bits that you choose to share. I’ve been skirting around something for a while now. Looking back through recent columns I find mentions of anxiety, and doctor’s appointments; wry jokes about illness, outings undertaken in order to cheer myself up. What I haven’t really made clear is the fact that underlying all this is the ongoing story of Ben’s health.
Anyone who knows us will remember that he was first taken ill back in 1992. He wrote a brilliant memoir, Patient, about the nine weeks he spent in hospital, much of the time in ICU, engaged in a close brush with death. Decades have passed since that episode of high drama, and most people assume it is all in the past. Our life since then looks like a classic story of winning out over adversity.
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