Hansard

I thank Jackie Baillie for securing the debate. In just over two weeks, I will turn 55. I mention that because we lost my brother Andy at that age to a malignant brain tumour. Fifty-five was far too young. He had already achieved some amazing things in his life, and he absolutely lived his life to the full, but he still had much more to do. Time is an important point that I want to talk about.

At the end of the day, we all die one way or another. Immortality is not an option. The time that we have on this earth, the quality of the life that we lead, the personal goals that we set and conquer, and the people we get to touch in our time are the things in our lives that we can judge as important.

Andy was taken too young, but there are things that we can be thankful for. He was diagnosed with his tumour 15 years before it ended his life, and for at least 13 of those years, he lived every moment of it. As Beatrice Wishart pointed out, not too many years ago, he would not have survived for more than two or three years at most.

Had it not been for the genius of the surgeons who gave Andy the operation to remove most of the tumour, the chemotherapy that gave him another five years, the radiotherapy that extended his life even further, and the care and attention from the fabulous team at the Beatson in Glasgow, who guided him from the very beginning and gave him every chance and option, his illness could have been much worse. They gave him precious, precious time.

Even when Andy knew that his time was coming to an end, he was fortunate enough to have a place in the Cornhill hospice in Perth, where the care, respect and dignity that the staff gave him and us were beyond words. He died as good a death as we could have hoped for. For that, all of us who knew him and got to spend time with him can be truly thankful. I intend to climb Kilimanjaro with a group of his friends and colleagues later this year to raise funds for the Cornhill hospice, as a tribute to Andy and in recognition of the utterly selfless and amazing work that the people who work there do.

My real point is that we have made huge strides in cancer care. Cancer is not always the death sentence that we once feared it was, and undoubtedly, we now have hope that we did not have before. Even when cancer wins, if we can give people more time, as Andy had, those precious days, weeks, months and years are invaluable.

There is no doubt that there is much more that we can and must do in trying to deal with cancer. Some of the groundbreaking work that is being done in Scotland is fabulous. The new early diagnosis centres are to be welcomed, and the sooner they are rolled out across the country, the better. As my colleague Christine Grahame said, early diagnosis is so important.

The elective treatment unit that is being built in the Perth royal infirmary will be transformational in allowing patients to be treated more quickly and effectively across Tayside. Again, the sooner the unit is completed, the better.

Cancer treatment, cancer care and cancer management are issues on which all members of Parliament and people across society can unite behind. Since coming into Parliament, one of the things that I have struggled to square in my own thinking is the big-picture stuff. I get that, as legislators, we have to look at the big picture and discuss details, budgets and statistics, but my mind always goes to the individuals we are affecting. They are somebody’s mum, their granny, their uncle, their auntie, their brother, their sister, a wife or a husband, sons and daughters, and they matter to everyone who knows and loves them. Therefore, they matter to us in this chamber.

We should all try and do the very best that we can to make sure that those who are affected by cancer get the same help, support, care and dignity that Andy did, and which we would want for ourselves or any of our loved ones. [Applause.]