WE DON’T talk about cancer enough, we seldom look at how far we have come in the battle with the disease and the NHS is very undervalued – those are the views of Toby Peach who brings his one-man show about his own cancer battle to Artrix.
The Eulogy of Toby Peach, at the School Drive venue at 8pm next Thursday (March 9) sees the 28-year-old speak about his cancer, the human body, modern science, the importance of support, self-mortality and how life should be celebrated.
Toby was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 20 after discovering a lump in his neck.
“My neck looked like the neck of a rugby player and as I had never played rugby in my life I thought that was a bit concerning,” he said.
He went to the doctor and his GP said she thought it was nothing and would settle down but, after looking back over the notes, she called him back and asked him to go for a scan and that was when the cancer was discovered.
He said: “I remember it being a strange time and I reacted in a way I couldn’t understand – the first thing I asked was: ‘Am I going to lose all my hair?’
“It sounded pretty vain afterwards but apparently that is how a lot of people react.”
After the devastating news Toby continued living his life in the same way for the first few days, even booking a model photo-shoot.
When he went down there he did a variety of poses and on one of them he pulled his hair back over his head. When he saw the picture afterwards he had the appearance of being completely bald.
“That was the moment of realisation when I saw what I was going to look like and I was instantly sick.”
At the time he was studying community theatre at drama school and carried on with that, just returning to his parents’ house every fortnight for treatment.
“I didn’t see what all the fuss was about at that time – after the treatment I spent a day sleeping it off and then I was raring to go again.
“I went into remission, I still had all my hair and everything seemed fine.”
But like many, after being in remission for a year, Toby suffered a relapse and the cancer returned – in his chest.
“This time it was a lot worse – the treatments are heavier and more brutal but the most daunting thing was that I was losing faith in the medicine and starting to question whether it would actually save me.
“There was a lot more drugs to take and a lot more things I couldn’t do – I was more tired and the biggest thing was having to put my life on hold.
“I had just finished university and had made a lot of plans that I wouldn’t be able to do.
“At that stage, from visiting hospital and then going home, I was suddenly an inpatient, spending weeks at a time in a room on my own – I had visitors, DVDs to watch and a games console but I did not have my freedom.
Toby also had stem cell treatment where usually they find a perfect match and use their healthy cells to replenish the patient’s.
“They tried my brother but he was not a match so they had to use my own cells.
“I remember seeing them take out 9million stem cells and put them in a bag and I thought ‘how can they do that?’.”
Toby said: “People might see the show advertised and, in the same way many people don’t want to talk about cancer, they may think they do not want to go and see a show about cancer.”
But, he said, the show was very light-hearted and far from doom and gloom, having its very own love story (he and his girlfriend’s journey) and many memorable and funny moments, as well as poignant ones.
“One of them was the fact I built up a relationship with my room and my IV stand – I talk about how I even gave her a name – she was called ‘Ivy’ and we used to do drugs together.”
Toby also sheds light on Willie Wonka’s Stem Cell treatments and the ‘not so exclusive’ cancer club he was in where he and other patients would have cocktails together, albeit chemotherapy ones – he even ‘gives out a few’ during the evening.
Toby said there were many motivations for writing ‘The Eulogy of Toby Peach’ – including the importance of talking about cancer, hope and support.
“Even the simplest thing like having someone there to hold your hand goes a long way.
In the interview he saved the last words for the most important things of all – the progress and discoveries made through research into cancer treatments and the NHS.
“If I had had cancer 70 years ago, I probably would not be here now to tell this tale – but I am and so are many others – it’s incredible how far we have come.
“You also – until you have a a prolonged illness – do not realise how important the NHS is.
“The treatment I received would have cost more than £80,000 and it was there, thanks to taxpayers.
“I don’t think we value the NHS enough – it needs to be made more of a priority.
“It angers me sometimes when I hear about how much we spend on Trident – that does damage – when that could be put towards something that saves.
“I think sadly the only time the NHS will be fully appreciated is when it is gone,” he added.
Tickets for The Eulogy of Toby Peach are £12 (£10 concessions – over 60s and students).
They are available at www.artrix.co.uk or by calling 01527 577330.
