Personally 2011 has been unequivocally, the saddest one of my life, as last October, my beloved husband, Simon MacCorkindale, lost his five-year battle with cancer. Many of you will remember him for his remarkable portrayal of Surgeon Harry Harper, in the long-running series, Casualty, but alongside his acting career, he shared my passion and worked tirelessly and tenaciously to build and promote our Arabian Stud farm and we never once stopped believing.

My wish for the future is to realise the dreams and plans that we had made together and to make him proud The horses are the ones, who have still brought a smile in a year of unspeakable sadness and I know that each and every one of you will understand just what that means.

Simon would only want me to carry on waving the feel good flag and to be here with you all, throughout this week of competition. Encouraging your efforts as always, relishing in the success of riders, performers and entertainers and, of course, the show. Every Sunday, at the Gala Night finale, Simon’s words were the last to be heard when he recited the piece that over the years became his own, the Ode to the Horse. With his velvet voice and unforgettable style, he reminded us all just why we were here, .so ft will remain, Simon’s Ode and unforgettable.

The Ode to the Horse this year will be a recording of Simon to commemorate what a special and unique contribution he made to the show

Thanks to Ms George for a copy of this article

Susan George, who made her name as a sex siren in Straw Dogs, lost her husband, actor Simon MacCorkindale to cancer last year. Here she shares her advice on dealing with widowhood, and explains why she’s ready to start living dangerously again

THERE IS A NOTICE STUCK TO THE FRIDGE DOOR in the kitchen of Susan George’s rambling Exmoor farmhouse. From memory, it is the only thing on any surface in an otherwise immaculate room. Handwritten in capitals, it instructs: ‘Drink a glass of water every hour. Essential’ I mention it and Susan’s huge, dark eyes fill with tears. ‘I put that there to remind Simon’ she says. ‘And I will never take it down’ Simon is Simon MacCorkindale, her late husband. An internationally acclaimed actor, best known latterly for his long-standing role as consultant Harry Harper in BBC One’s Casualty, he died in her arms of cancer last year. He and Susan had been married for 26 years – he was admitted to the London Clinic for the last time straight from the luxury hotel room he had booked as a surprise for their wedding anniversary.

Theirs was an enduring love – a rare thing in showbusiness. They met at an Ella Fitzgerald concert in 1977, started dating in 1982 and married in 1984 when both were riding a wave of glamour and acclaim. He had been one of the first British actors to make it big in Hollywood. She starred as Amy Sumner in Sam Peckinpah’s astonishingly violent Straw Dogs. It made her name internationally as an actor and a sex siren, Britain’s own answer to Brigitte Bardot.

Susan is now 60 and the siren is still there, masking at first glance the widow inside her. She is tiny: slim but curvaceous in her blue jeans, brown leather riding boots and white and grey T-shirts, tightly layered.

In October it will be a year since Simon died and, although she no longer feels as if she is outside herself, looking in on her grief, she still struggles to express it, fiddling with her sleeves, playing with her signature long blonde hair as she searches for words.

We always believed we would beat this. A close friend said shortly after everything had happened, did you never think about things going wrong? And my answer was, when something like this happens in your life to someone you love, you never talk about anything but things going right and the future, hope and positivity, getting through it and out the other side. We believed we were going to win through.’

The couple told no one of Simon’s cancer, when he was diagnosed in 2006, not least because they were assured that once the diseased areas had been removed, he would be fine. Even when the cancer spread to his lungs and he was given five years to live, they kept believing. He continued working, even taking his first singing role as Captain von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sound of Music.

‘Don’t think I don’t ask myself the question, “Was the work too stressful?” I think it was too stressful, but he loved to work. He wasn’t a workaholic, just adored his job and achievement. He worked harder than any other person I have ever met. He never took a day off sick, he thought illness was something you didn’t think about, you just got on with it.

‘I will never know why this cruel thing had to happen, but one thing I have to remind myself of constantly is that it would have been horrendous for Simon to live his life in any way as an invalid. He would have hated that and seeing his pain would have broken my heart into tiny pieces.’

The end was mercifully quick. Simon was leading a full life until that night in the hotel. At the hospital they thought he had another infection. ‘We had been here before and his doctors were confident and positive, assuming it was another blip, as we called it, and he would soon get better.’

He insisted Susan do her duty and attend – as planned – the Horse of the Year Show, as its Honorary President. She journeyed between it and his bedside, then, on the Sunday night drove down to Exmoor to pack the clothes in which to bring him home.

That night the clinic rang: her husband was asking for her. ‘He was struggling to breathe… I drove like a maniac. He started to relax as soon as I got there, but unbelievably it just got worse, every day, for days, it just got worse.’ Susan’s voice is a hoarse whisper. ‘I stayed with him every minute and I never let him know we were in trouble. He was always the unselfish one, always putting me first. Now it was my turn’

When she left the clinic, instinct drove her home to Exmoor, to the farm she and Simon had bought 10 years before and built up into a successful Arabian stud. The house is long and low and whitewashed, with beautiful views over meadows and the moor. ‘I love this place. I feel warm here and I know he is here with me’

It was instinct, too, that told her to take her time preparing the funeral service, choosing the songs and readings, making sure it expressed all that she felt, arranging for one of their beloved stallions to walk before the car. ‘Everything we did together we tried to do to perfection. I wanted that day to be perfect for him and it was. It was the most awful day of my life but it went perfectly’

It was just close friends who were there that day: most had last seen Simon at the party he and Susan threw for their 25th silver wedding anniversary only the year before. She shows me a silver-framed photograph of the occasion, with her husband, apparently in rude health, ruggedly handsome in a kilt. They remembered him just as he was, full of love and laughter on that wonderful night of celebration – he would have loved that’ They both had a firm Christian faith and in the days and weeks after Simon’s death, Susan spent a lot of time talking to God. ‘I talked to Him and to Simon and between the two of them they got me through. I do believe now that there is somewhere else in this universe, there has to be. I’d always been afraid of dying but Simon wasn’t and I’m not any more, because I know when my time comes he will be there’

In those early days she found ‘tremendous closeness in letter-writing to Simon. She wrote often through the first awful Christmas. Susan has no children (asked if she regrets this, there is a brief pause before an answer centering on the fact that she has 60 Arabian horses). Her father, mother and only sister – 12 years older – all died before Simon. Her closest relation now is her mother-in-law ‘Mrs Mac’ and she, together with ‘some really close friends’ saw Susan through the day.

It was the first of the bridges she has had to cross in widowhood. Another has been learning that she can live alone. ‘I had no option,’ she says. ‘Life will never be the same, I know that. Somehow I have to accept that’ The demands of Simon’s acting work meant that although they both abhorred separation, they were used to it. Susan was used to running the stud – Simon always referred to her as ‘the Boss’ – to being independent, to getting on with life. ‘Having him there at the end of the phone made it possible for me to be the most courageous girl on the planet because when I needed him he was just a phone call away’

Now, despite her ‘family’ of staff members for the stud, despite her friends, she is really on her own. ‘Had I ever contemplated it, I would have found the thought terrifying, but now my mind is so full and everything is so demanding that sometimes I am grateful for time in my own company’

She found the administration that follows a death almost overwhelming. Simon was extremely organised – it was a standing joke that his desk was always meticulous, while hers was organised chaos. Susan says that over the years though, she has learnt to follow his lead. The fact that he kept everything in our lives in beautiful order has been the most enormous help, but obviously there have been mountains and mountains to deal with.’

Like so many marriages, hers was equal until it came to handling money. ‘He really shielded me from the financial aspect of things. I hate figures, I hated mathematics – it was my worst subject at school. I never had anything to do with it – he did it all. Now the ball’s in my court and gosh, have I had to grow up a lot. Not that I wasn’t a grown-up, but I’ve had to change. My life used to be a lot more frivolous and playful, but I have become much more businesslike – I’ve had to. I have to make this business work now.’

There are in fact four businesses. Most obvious is the stud. Susan takes me to see the immaculate stables, this year’s foals (a poorly one is monitored from her desk on CCTV), the show horses, the stallion still prancing after his day’s work. She has pulled on a quilted jacket and with it a new persona: the proud breeder striding through her yard. I find myself scurrying to keep up.

The horses have produced two spin-offs: the Susan George Naturally collection of salves, balms and shampoos, designed by her for horses, tested on humans. To date the formulas have been blended at the farm but Susan intends to start production in America and the range will go worldwide. So will her photographs. Her Spirit ofEquus exhibition is showing in London now at the Brompton Quarter Brasserie and next year she is taking it to South Africa and California. She is working on a second collection, The Colours of Oman.

There is also her production company, Amy International, as well as P3, a company pioneered by Simon and formed with producer friends of them both, primarily to back television projects that she hopes to see flourish.

Susan says her aim is to make all the plans that Simon and she had made together come to fruition.

‘Simon so wanted me to write my autobiography; he believed that my life had to be shared and he begged me to do it. I have to fulfil that promise to him and have again begun the process of writing.’

She is keen to act again, something Simon also vehemently wanted her to do. “You know the re-make of Straw Dogs is coming out in September? It’s hard when someone tells you they are doing a re-make. The first thing you think is: they can’t possibly do that without me, how dare they? But time moves on, you have to accept that.’

She has done some consultancy for the director Rod Lurie and spoken with leading lady Kate Bosworth. Susan says she had made bold choices in her interpretation of Amy and ‘if I was to do it all again, I would make the same choices’.

As she talks there is the smallest pang of envy in her voice about the new film. ‘I would love to have as much power and impact in something new today,’ she admits. ‘I’d enjoy the challenge. An American producer asked what it would take to bring me back to the screen and I said “danger, something courageous, jumping off a bridge without a safety net”. That kind of part would get me back. So that’s the mission.’

She feels ready. ‘Don’t force yourself to do things you are not yet capable of. That doesn’t mean don’t try – you must try all the time – but recognise the right time. The moment will come.’

She recently backed out of a charity ball she was due to attend: ‘Instead I went for an eight-mile ride on Exmoor, and I know that was the right decision.’ But she forced herself to attend the opening of her London exhibition. It was a great success and boosted her confidence on all sorts of levels.

‘Before it, I had no idea how I was going to cope, but I felt strong, stronger than I have for a while. He was everywhere that night, my Simon, and I know he would have been truly proud of me.’

Tucked away in a remote comer of Exmoor with her horses and dogs around her, actress Susan George is busy – very busy. It may seem a strange time to take on such a heavy workload, but she’s the first to admit that it helps numb the pain of losing her husband and soulmate, actor Simon MacCorkindale, who lost his brave battle with cancer last October.

Just days after celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary, Simon died in Susan’s arms. He had fought the disease for five years, but when the end came it was swift and unexpected.

“It was so sudden,” says Susan, welling up. “He was such a strong and powerful person, so indestructible both mentally and physically, and in our minds he was always going to beat it. Never once did we doubt that.”

Simon was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006, during his six-year spell playing Dr Harry Harper in the hit BBC drama Casualty. To begin with he kept his illness secret, even when, during a gruelling West End run of The Sound of Musk, he was told that the cancer had spread to his lungs. Only after that exacting role was over did he finally go public in an interview with HELLO!.

“He never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him. He just wanted to lead a normal life and be himself,” explains Susan, 60, with her beloved Irish setter Tenor at her side. “Simon’s oncologist used to say, ‘If I didn’t know physically what was going on, I would never believe anything other than that you’re an incredibly fit man.’ It was astounding how he remained so strong.

“There’s a saying, ‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans’… and we had so many,” says the actress, whose own acting career has spanned five decades and saw her co-star with Dustin Hoffman in the controversial 1971 film Straw Dogs.

“All I can do is try to deal with what has happened and try to come to terms with it.”

And that’s just what Susan is doing. As well as running Georgian Arabians, her successful Arabian stud farm set in 50 acres among the rolling hills of the West Country, she’s organising an exhibition of equine photography this summer, expanding her range of aromatherapy products for horses, and continuing to write her autobiography. Not to mention reading film scripts and fielding acting offers from the US. As she prepares to face the future alone, Susan opens her heart to HELLO! and shares her determination to make a go of her business: “It was Simon who gave me the support and encouragement to make my dream come to fruition. I’m not going to let him down.”

It was a brave battle that you and Simon fought together. How are you coping now that it’s over?
“When people ask, ‘How are you doing?’ the truth is, I don’t know. I think I’m doing quite well, but it’s an impossible question to answer.

“I have my moments when I’m so together, I feel I am moving forward with strength and clarity and beginning to adjust a little to life on my own. Other times, I fall apart, and it happens in a trice. Just at the mention of his name… like now… and I feel so broken.”

You both explored every possible treatment of his disease. Did you ever imagine he wouldn’t be cured?
“Never once. We were determined and totally believed that he would get better. We did everything. But there’s a part of you that wonders, ‘Could I have done more?’ It’s a question I ask myself constantly.”

Has it changed you as a person?
“At the moment, yes. I sometimes feel as if I’m outside myself, looking in. I’m usually very instinctive, someone who just goes and does, but for the first time in my life I am giving things more consideration.”

If there were any positives you could draw from the traumatic years of Simon’s illness, what would they be?
“There is nothing positive, in light of the outcome. But I saw such wonderful bravery, courage and tenacity in Simon. His spirit was indomitable. There were times when he suffered, but he never complained. The respect I have for his dignity and determination is beyond compare.”

Is there any resentment that life should be so cruel?
“I used to say we were lucky for what we had in each other, the unlucky part was getting the disease. Not for one moment did we resent it though, we just knew that that was the way it was, and we had to deal with it Simon and I had a love that most people only dream about finding. I feel that I’m the luckiest person on this earth to have shared 26 years with him.”

Why did Simon choose to keep his illness secret for so long?
“It meant he was able to be himself and not feel that anyone was saying ‘poor Simon’. He was such a positive person and, in our minds, was going to beat it”

When did you notice his health start to go downhill?
“It was all so sudden. It was our 26th wedding anniversary on 5 October, and Simon had booked a beautiful hotel for us. The Horse of the Year show – of which I’ve been honorary president for 13 years – was on, and he’d suggested coming with me to make it fun for us both. He’d had bouts of illness over the years, which twice resulted in pneumonia, but he was always fantastically brave about it. He’d go into the London Clinic and, three days later, he’d be out of hospital full of energy again. That night in the hotel he became poorly and we were scared – and the next morning I drove him straight to the London Clinic.”

Did you realise how serious the situation was?
“Typically, when we arrived at the hospital, he made light of it and we thought he’d be in for just a few days, as did his oncologist. The staff were incredibly upbeat. He had another respiratory infection and needed to be there, but that was all. He was adamant that I should go to the horse show and do my job as president – he had a strong sense of duty and never let anybody down in his life. So I went back and forth.

“In the week that followed I was with him every day, but things were going wrong, horribly wrong and on 14 October, in the night and in my arms, I lost him. It’s so unbelievably cruel. There’s no explanation. There’s no point asking questions. Everybody did their very best”

Has your faith helped to carry you through?
“Absolutely. We always believed we walked with God and He walked with us. I thank God that he let Simon go in the way that he did – without fear and feeling that he was still strong and was going to recover. He left this Earth the man he was.”

Did you ever discuss what might happen in die future?
“People ask me incredulously, ‘But didn’t you ever talk about this day?’ The answer is no, never. When something so gigantic and painful happens to someone you love, you don’t ever talk about it going wrong, you don’t go there, you have to believe and talk about the future and getting out the other side.”

Living out here on Exmoor with your horses and dogs, do you take comfort in the fact that this was where you lived and loved?
“Completely. I’m secure in the fact that Simon is right here beside me. I live alone, but I don’t feel alone -1 feel that Simon is with me. We were lovers, best friends and soulmates. Every decision we made, we made together and I make sure that we still do. I talk to him. I ask a question and I get the answer. At the moment I don’t want to be far away from our home, and that’s a bridge I know I eventually have to cross.”

Have you gained anything from the experience?
“I think I’ve gained strength of character. Maybe I always had it, but recently it’s come to the fore. I have to forge a path to the future – I have no option. I know Simon would have wanted nothing more in the world than for me to laugh, be happy, get on with my life and continue to make him proud.”

Will there be a memorial service?
“Definitely, but I haven’t yet decided on a date. His funeral was small and very personal and if I could have, I would have had it alone with just him and me and Tenor. But you have to think of other people and their grief, and he left surrounded by friends. I want his memorial service to be a celebration of his life, all that he was and gave to this planet. He was, for me, a one-in-a-million husband; there will never be another Simon.”

You’ve built up your business around Arabian horses. Was Simon into horses as much as you?
“When I met Simon, he’d never even put a head collar on a horse but, like everything in life, he threw himself into it 100 per cent. Georgian Arabians was originally my passion and creation, but it also became his, and the breeding programme has taken years to come to fruition. He took such pride in all we had achieved. Ten foals are due in the next few weeks, all from home-bred stallions.”

You seem to have a real affinity with horses…
“I communicate with my horses and they seem to respond to that. They understand me and I understand them: the trust is implicit. I am hoping this year to organise some events introducing Arabian horses to children with disabilities, as I know how they can help open up communication. These horses are so responsive, and whatever they receive they will give back in spades.”

Tell us about your other projects…
“In recent years I discovered a flair for photography and it has grown into Susan George Photography, a business specialising in equine images and etchings.  I’m self-taught, totally untechnical, but I love to capture the moment, the movement, the eyes, the heart and the soul of my subjects.

“Simon was a huge believer in my work and had plans to market it on a grand scale. We’d already had several exhibitions and there’s another planned in London for this June. I’ve also been invited to exhibit in South Africa next January, and after that in America. Then there’s my equine aromatherapy company Susan George Naturally, which has been going for many years in the UK. Recently, I’ve been in talks about setting up franchises and selling our products worldwide.”

What about reigniting your career as an actress?
“Extraordinarily, I’ve had a lot of phone calls over the past weeks and a lot of interest from America. Acting always brought me tremendous happiness and when the right piece comes along, I’ll be there.”

Simon always spoke of his desire to see you finish your autobiography. How’s it coming along?
“If it had been done last year as we’d planned, it would have been smiles all the way, with him at my side. He loved to listen to the hilarious and sometimes catastrophic stories of my years in Hollywood, and wanted the world to hear them too. I have picked up where I left off. and although it’s a daunting task, I write from the heart and I love to do so.”

You have said before that when God closes a door He opens a window. Has one opened for you yet?
“Yes, definitely. It’s just a small gap at present, but it’s opening a little bit each day. There are difficult times ahead, but I know I have to move on. I hate the phrase ‘move on’ because I’m not moving away from something, I’m moving with something. The hurt is at times indescribable, but I think it’s important people know that I’m not hiding under a bush somewhere unable to cope. Because I am coping, whatever that means.”

The former Casualty star died in a London clinic after a brave four-year fight against a disease that he refused to let dominate his life.

In a moving tribute to her beloved husband of 25 years, actress Susan said: “To me, he was simply the best of everything, and I loved him with all my heart He will live on in me forever”

Simon had credited his wife (together, above) as being an “unbelievable” support throughout his ordeal And Susan was quick to pay tribute to the TV and stage star’s own fighting spirit as she mourned his passing. “No one could have fought this disease any harder than he did since being diagnosed four years ago” she said. “He fought it with such strength, courage and belief. Last night, he lost this battle, and he died peacefully in my arms”

Simon was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006, but incredibly kept the truth a secret from the world for three and a half years, throwing himself into his work and refusing to let the illness affect his life. However, during this time he was told the cancer had spread to his lungs and was terminal.

“It was like being hit by a truck” he admitted, as the brave couple spoke poignantly of their battle exclusively in HELLO! last December. “I’m quite strong, but I have to say it did take my breath away… but it does give you a kick up the pants, warning you not to put things on the back burner. Going around feeling sorry for yourself does you no good at all. A good laugh does wonders”
It was this positive attitude that allowed the couple to come to terms with the awful truth of his illness. “Never underestimate the power of the mind and spirit,” said Cambridge-born Simon, who also insisted that he could not have coped without the never-ending support of his wife.

Susan was a constant presence by his side as he underwent surgery, chemotherapy and countless alternative therapies. “Her caring and love has brought us even closer together,” he told HELLO!. “I try to think positive — that it’s something which is part of our life and that we have to deal with.”

A LIFE IN PICTURES

The news of Simon’s death came just a week after he appeared in an episode of the hugely popular BBC drama New Tricks. His career spanned five decades – starting in 1974, when he made his West End debut in Pygmalion alongside Diana Rigg. A stint in several TV miniseries followed, but it was his role in the Hollywood adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile in 1978 that catapulted him to stardom.

Simon moved to Hollywood two years later, and his good looks and talent proved an immediate hit He took on high-profile roles in long-running series Falcon Crest and Manimal, as well as cameos in Dynasty, The Dukes of Hazzard and Hart to Hart, before returning to the UK in 1986.

He worked regularly on stage and screen, with his last major starring role being Doctor Harry Harper in Casualty, from 2002 to 2008, but it is testament to his attitude that it was only in the past six months that Simon scaled back his acting work – choosing instead to help former child star Susan, who starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in the 1971 film Straw Dogs, pen her autobiography.

“Simon   had  an extraordinary career encompassing – among many other things -matinee idol, Hollywood lead, film and theatre director, producer and horse breeder. That amazing energy and appetite for life remained with him to the end” said John Yorke, controller of BBC drama production.
“It is a massive tribute to Simon that he bore his illness so stoically, never asking for sympathy or attention, and continuing to work for as long as he was able. He will be missed massively by his many fans, and by everyone who worked with him.”

Pictures can be found:
Associated Press
Indian Times
Capital Pictures
Capital Pictures
YouTube – Arrivals video: Simon and Susan appear at about 4.20 Link no longer available

The Arabian horses used on the day belong to Susan and Simon

http://www.life.com/image/98934054

http://www.life.com/image/98933723

SIMON MACCORKINDALE AND SUSAN GEORGE

TELL WHY THEY ARE FOCUSING ON THE POSITIVE AS THEY TACKLE HIS ILLNESS TOGETHER

‘Simon is not dying of cancer – he’s living with it, That’s really important’

Actor Simon MacCorkindale is looking a picture of health, riding his quad bike across the Exmoor farm he shares with his actress wife Susan George. His rosy cheeks and positive energy make the knowledge that he is battling cancer all the harder to comprehend.
It was only last month that former Casualty star Simon, 57, revealed the secret he’d been harbouring for three and a half years. During that time, he’d thrown himself into a grueling work schedule. A schedule he now admits was ridiculous given that, when not filming the BBC medical drama, he was undergoing surgery for bowel cancer.

After that, he took on two national tours and the exacting role of Captain Georg Von Trapp in The Sound of Music in the West End, while quietly coping with the knowledge that the cancer had spread to his lungs.

But Simon is not the sort of character to sit and brood over what life throws at him.

Being told he may have only five years to live has made him all the more determined to confound the doctors’ prognosis.

“There’s not a single cancer that exists that someone hasn’t survived, so therefore nothing is incurable,” he says in his distinctive deep voice

“Never underestimate the power of the mind and spirit.”

This positive approach, coupled with homeopathic treatments and a macrobiotic diet has, he says, yielded significant results.

“I have rarely felt fitter or had more energy,” he says. But, right now, he has reduced his workload as he undergoes a six-month course of chemotherapy, a treatment that he believes will shrink the cancer and stop it spreading.

THE PERFECT TEAM

At his side is his beautiful wife of 25 years Susan, 59, who starred alongside Dustin Hoffman in the 1971 film Straw Dogs, was once voted the sexiest woman in the world and was rumoured to have stepped out with the Prince of Wales. She has faced up to the challenge as dauntlessly as Simon, exploring myriad alternative therapies and drawing up a detailed plan of action.

“We believe there is a solution to all this and we’re going to work our way through it. It’s not in our nature to think negatively,” she says firmly.
Over the next six months, Simon will devote more of his time to helping Susan run their successful stud farm of 60 Arabian horses on Exmoor. “It’s a very outdoorsy life and we love it,” Susan says. “We’ll ride out together and go for long walks, and there surely can’t be better therapy than that” Time will also be spent helping Susan write her autobiography – chronicling her Hollywood days – which she hopes will be published next year.
Here, the couple speak movingly to HELLO! of their hopes and fears surrounding Simon’s illness and of their absolute determination to come through it together…

What finally made you take the decision to go public about your illness, Simon, having kept it secret for three years?

“There was considerable concern about the impact on one’s career because I was, and still am, fit and capable. As soon as you declare you’ve got something wrong, issues arise when filming and suddenly you become potentially unemployable. The timing didn’t seem right to tell everyone I wasn’t well, because I was worried the phone would suddenly stop ringing. But gradually I felt there was a bit of a creeping whispers thing going on, so I thought, ‘I’ve got to come clean.’”

Susan: “We are also extremely truthful people in life, so keeping such a secret was becoming a terrible weight for both of us. We constantly had to skirt the truth – even when it came to people asking us why Simon was on his macrobiotic diet.”

Did you feel you were leading something of a double life?

Simon.: “We definitely were. I did have to back out of a charity engagement recently after I had my first chemo treatment and was advised to take it easy until I knew how I would be affected, so I lied as to why I couldn’t do it I felt pretty grim about that I was phoning a chum asking if he could stand in for me and lying to him too. It struck me it was disrespectful to everyone.”

Su: “Since the truth has come out, the outpouring from friends of love and prayers has been extraordinary. People we’ve never met have sent messages and ideas for cures – it’s been incredible.”

So you’re relieved that it’s all out in the open…

Si: “Considerably. We can now talk about the different treatments I’ve tried and studied over the last three years. I am now in a position to answer any questions people may have.”

Su: “Knowing that people care and are thinking of us is really healthy and good for a fantastic recovery.”

Do you see a connection between your state of mind and the disease?

Si: “I think my personality probably has something to do with it. I have always hated letting people down and have a huge work ethic, I have always set myself high standards; then, as soon as I reached a particular bar, I’d raise the blasted thing. I suspect the perpetual disease in my personality may have ultimately become the disease that I’ve ended up having to live with.”

Su: “He needs to let go of feeling that maybe he’s disappointed somebody and just be comfortable with himself and all he’s doing. But that’s the person he is, and that’s who I fell in love with 25 years ago.”

Has illness made your relationship even stronger?

Si: “Susan’s support is unbelievable and her caring and love has bought us even closer together. I couldn’t have coped without her, and it has bound us together in a particular way. I try to think positive – that it’s something which is part of our life and that we have to deal with. For Susan it’s been in many ways a tougher journey.”

How did you first learn of your illness, back in 2006?

“I literally felt rotten one morning in mid-June, and by mid-August I’d had part of my colon out. I didn’t have any treatment other than surgery. No pills, no radiotherapy or chemotherapy, not even an antibiotic. All we got was the diagnosis that it was bowel cancer and that it had luckily been caught in time. Scans showed there was something on my lungs that needed to be watched, but I felt great and got on with my heavy workload.”

When did you discover it had spread to your lungs?

“It was May 2007 when I got the news that this cancer was in my lungs and was probably incurable. Initially the doctors couldn’t do a satisfactory biopsy. Then, in May last year, I had the biopsy that finally confirmed the diagnosis that it was bowel cancer in the lung.”

It must have been devastating…

“It was like being hit by a truck. I’m quite strong, but I have to say it did take my breath away. I kept stopping and thinking, ‘What have I just heard?’ Then I sat in the car for 20 minutes wondering, ‘How am I going to deal with this?’ I thought it through and then decided, ‘Okay, this is what we do next’

“There were days working on Casualty which were seriously bizarre. Maybe there was some synchronicity between playing a doctor on TV for six years and getting a disease I could talk about at some point and perhaps be of use to sufferers. I thought, ‘Maybe this is what it’s all about’”

How do you deal with the word “incurable” and its connotations?

“We both hate that word… But it does give you a kick up the pants, warning you not to put things on the back burner, to take them more seriously. You grow up, which is not altogether a bad thing. When you’re told you have five years to live, you can’t quite get that out of your head, however stoical you are. But you also know that, like a lot of clinical diagnoses, it is based on statistics. At the same time, attitude is everything.”

Su: “I want to say something really important: Simon is not dying of cancer, he is living with it”

How important do you think your mental attitude has been, Susan?

“Never underestimate the power of the mind, because it plays such an important role in everything we do. Positivity is everything. Letting go is very important. We are also trying to consider ourselves a bit more. Doing things for Simon is what my life’s all about now… whatever I can do, I will do.”

Si: “We both look at each day as it comes. That’s the way we’ve always been. We don’t know what lies before us, no one does. Having a positive attitude has been absolutely critical, if for no other reason than I’ve sustained a workload that was by anybody’s standards ridiculous.”

You continued to work throughout your treatment, including a role in The Sound of Music…

Su: “It was a huge challenge for Simon to be singing on stage for the first time… it was an amazing feat.”

Si: “And with lung cancer, it was particularly interesting.”

How do you keep so upbeat?

“Going around feeling sorry for yourself does you no good at all. A good laugh does wonders.”

Is there a bitterness that this shouldn’t have happened to you?

Su: “From Simon yes, and there is anger.”

Si: “It has just got in the way of things we were planning and doing, and I’m angry about it restricting us. The anger isn’t good, it’s not healthy and, unfortunately, there were moments when that anger was taken out at home, particularly when no one else knew what we were going through. We’ve always lived a healthy lifestyle, kept fit and done yoga together for 20 years. I rarely ate particularly rich foods, didn’t smoke and drank in moderation. There was nothing excessive at all, so to have my body break down was the last thing in the world I expected.”

In what way do you think having this disease has changed you and your perspective on life?

“I get tired now and I suppose I have to realise that I’m not indestructible, which has been a bit of an eye opener and taken me a while to get used to.”

Su: “He gets cross with himself. That’s the bit I find difficult, because I know that he has to take more care through this period. We are people who have always had the energy to go forward and do things. We never question what we do. But maybe that’s God’s way of saying that we need to.”

How spiritual are you?

Si: “We are very spiritual. We both very much believe in God. We look at the things that have happened and think, ‘How are we going to cope with this?’ then, miraculously, a door appears to open. But you have to be open, free and ready to receive; things do then happen.”

Su: “It’s about knowing God is in our house and trusting in him. He’s with us every day and walks with us every day.”

Has your faith helped to carry you through the dark days?

Si: “If someone says they are going to pray for me, I think it’s the greatest gift they can give. When people write that they are praying for us, it’s the most glorious thing you can hear. That someone takes the care and trouble to sit down and write it, let alone follow it through, is amazing.”

Weren’t you told last spring that the tumour on your lung had shrunk?

“We did hear after a batch of treatments in America – which included low-dose chemotherapy – that it had stopped growing. Then the next scan showed it had started to grow again. That was when we decided to have a go at the stronger chemo as we felt it was potentially a solution to fight it.”

What other treatments are you using?

“Iscador, which is a mistletoe-based substance that I inject three times a week. And homeopathic treatments that help with lymphatic drainage and detoxing and that boost my immune system. I also take a herb every day from the Amazon called Gravizon.”

Su: “One has to work all the time at making one’s stomach alkaline and getting rid of all the acid. Cancer feeds off acidity so, in very simple terms, you have to take everything out of your diet that the cancer feeds off – don’t give it anything it likes, give it what it doesn’t”

Are there still dreams to be realised?

Si: “We feel there’s as much in front of us as there is behind us. The big one is to go round the world together and visit all the places we haven’t seen. And there are lots of career things I still want to achieve – more film work and directing, particularly. Susan is also keen to get back into what she did so successfully for so many years – she’s just taken on new management.”

Is there a fear of the unknown?

Si: “Not for me.”

Su: “I don’t go there. I can’t go there and won’t go there.”

Si: “The power of prayer is massive. One must never ever forget that people do and can get rid of this thing. Faith has got an awful lot to do with it and as much it’s bad luck in getting it, there’s good luck in getting rid of it. Everybody who’s got this disease has to believe that. Both Susie and I fully believe in the Jewish proverb… ‘When God shuts a door, he opens a window.”‘

CASUALTY STAR SIMON TALKS MOVINGLY OF THREE YEAR BATTLE WITH CANCER

CASUALTY star Simon MacCorkindale today reveals his secret THREE YEAR battle against cancer—and tells how he aims to beat the disease.

Tenderly holding hands with actress wife Susan George, the TV heart-throb recalls how a REAL doctor working on the BBC hospital drama first spotted his symptoms early and urged him to get a check-up.

And despite being given only five years to live in May 2006, defiant Simon, 57, vows: “I’m going nowhere. I don’t think about a day when it comes to an end.

“It’s not happening. It’s just a bloody nuisance.

“I don’t want people to think I’m sitting here pale, losing weight and my hair and on the way out. I’m not. I’m as active as I’ve ever been.”

In a moving and at times tearful interview the star couple also reveal how they are using a mix of different therapies and treatments to fight the cancer after it spread from Simon’s bowel to his lungs.

And, while staying positive, they also talk of their darkest hours as Simon faced up to the bombshell diagnosis he has hidden from fans until now.

International film actress Susan-best known for her role alongside Dustin Hoffman in 1971 movie Straw Dogs—says: “I can’t remember many more painful things in my life, other than losing people. I’ve lost family members, and everyone of those situations has been unbearably painful, and I saw this immediately as unbearable too. But it’s the only time we’ve doubted.”

Simon’s illness began at the peak of his career on Casualty playing hospital consultant Harry Harper in June, 2006. He felt unwell during a scene with fellow actors Liz Carling, playing Dr Selena Donovan, and Ben Price, playing Holby’s corporate director Nathan Spencer.

“I started to get a very gripey feeling in my tummy, went as pale as a sheet and broke out in a sweat,” says Simon.

“They asked me if I was all right. I thought if anything it might be a touch of gastroenteritis.” He thought nothing of it. “I’ve always been very fit. I’d rarely had the flu, and I’d not had a day off work in my entire career,” he says.

Simon went to his hotel room to sleep it off—but news of his sickness reached a real-life doctor on the set of Casualty, one of many on-hand to advise actors on pronouncing medical terms, and carrying out procedures.

The doctor gave him some tests which revealed he was slightly anemic-but the concerned medic referred him to a consultant for a bowel examination.

As Simon lay recovering from the colonoscopy, the consultant delivered a shock diagnosis.

Simon says: “He came to see me and said, Well this has come as a bit of a surprise. I’ve come to tell you have early stage malignant tumour in the colon’.

“He told me we’d caught it early and there were no immediate signs of it getting out and about, so with surgery, he could whip out a length of colon, stitch me back up again, and it would be fine.

“I feel now that I was a very lucky boy. If I hadn’t been working on Casualty I might never have been checked.” But for Susan the news was a raw body blow that day as he walked into the same room at their home where they are giving their interview.

She says: “I asked, ‘How was it?’ He said, ‘It’s not great-I have a tumour’. I was incredibly shocked and frightened.”

Simon adds: “Susan was desperately upset at first, but pretty soon we both resolved that we would beat this.

“We took the lucky approach. We still feel very lucky.”

They vowed to keep it secret from all but closest family and friends and Simon scheduled his surgery for a two-week gap in Casualty’s filming, despite doctors recommending he take ten to 12 weeks to recover. In the four-hour op, a two-foot section of his bowel containing the tumour was removed. Further tests at first indicated it had not spread-even though some small mystery specks were showing on his lungs.

Doctors decided to carry out regular CT scans to keep an eye on them—and Simon returned to working six days a week at Casualty before taking a six-month break from the show at Christmas, when his character Harry left Holby to pursue a political career.

But rather than rest, Simon went on a five-month touring production of the Agatha Christie play The Unexpected Guest. Little changed until, on May 29, 2007 Simon and Susan’s world was shattered. Simon says: “I went for the result of my latest scan, and to show just how blase we were about it by then, I went to the oncologist on my own on my way to work. We really thought it would be fine.

“But he said to me, ‘It’s not good. The spots on the lungs have grown’.”

The specialist’s diagnosis was that it was cancer but that the spots had to develop before they could carry out a biopsy to confirm it. Simon asked how long he had. “I said, ‘What does it mean? have we got 20, 10, five years? He said, ‘Probably, five years’.

He turns to Susan and says: “That wasn’t a good day, was it Darling?” Her eyes fill with tears. “He came home and walked in here and I asked what had happened. He told me and I said, ‘No, that can’t be’.

“I remember he sat on the sofa, I sat on the floor between his knees and we talked, and we fell into one another’s arms, and we cried. We cried lots.”

Incredibly, the couple resolved to stay positive and fight. Simon adds: “We just said we are going to beat this.” The very next day ex-rugby player Simon switched to a macrobiotic diet, cutting out foods including meat, wheat, dairy, refined sugars, and acids, for those such as rices, pulses, and vegetables. The lifestyle has been credited with health benefits in cancer patients. Since their black day they’ve refused to accept the specialist’s view that Simon had “five years” left.
Susan says: “It is the one thing that sticks out in my mind all the time. I want to get these words out of my head. It was the lowest point.”

Simon—son of an RAF station commander—is typically direct. “It’s not something I’ve noted down the date for,” he smiles. “I’ve brushed it aside. I have in my files a letter where he’s written it. So it’s in print.” He went back to work at Casualty for his last series in late 2007. Simon-still keeping his illness secret-says: “There were times, playing a doctor in Casualty, I had to act as if I was telling someone they had cancer, or a terminal disease. That was a cracker.”

A non-smoker and a moderate drinker, Simon-who practices yoga-found himself “roaring with energy”. He says: “It was a waiting game to see what would happen.”

During all this the couple began reading up on a range of treatments, including Iscador treatment using mistletoe, photodynamic therapy, and spiritual healing.

In March 2008, a biopsy showed the lung spots were secondary cancer. For Simon it marked his lowest point. “It was the worst day,” he says. “I was away from home touring when I found out. For three days I didn’t tell Susan. I couldn’t tell her over the phone. I needed to tell her in person.” But despite everything, he refused to give up, and in August 2008, made a return to the stage as Captain Georg Von Trapp in the hit West End show of Sound of Music.

In January this year, Simon flew to Dubai for sessions with a Pranic healer, a system of ‘energy medicine’. He began using plant medicines, including herbs from the Amazon.

He also underwent a 12-week stint of intensive homeopathy mixed with low-dose chemotherapy. .His regime seemed to work, and in June a scan showed the cancer growth had stopped. Susan says: “People might say we are away with the pixies trying these, but we know it works.”

Feeling optimistic, they continued their relentless pursuit of new treatments and information. “We were very blessed, being guided to remarkable experts,” says Simon. Now the couple have switched to a new team at the London Oncology Clinic, using a renowned specialist, a nutritionist and homeopathist.

Simon said: “His words, the best words for a long time, were, ‘What you have now is not life-threatening at the moment.’ He has confirmed my belief this can be dealt with.”

The star has begun a six-month course of 12 chemotherapy treatments and is feeling strong. His love for Susan is as strong as ever too and in October, the couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

Simon has turned down further theatre work to be at home. He is helping to compile Susan’s autobiography. For years he has wanted her to write about her fascinating life in Hollywood, her love of horses, helping with their stud farm and her Equine Photography business.

Both are convinced Simon can win his fight. Susan says: “I believe, you know, I really believe. And I’m so 100 per cent positive. I just have a few lonely times, when I cry out from inside.”

They are relieved to have finally spoken about the cancer. “The pressure of this secret has been enormous,” says Simon. “But things creep out, and at least this way we can tell people in our own words.

“More people are surviving. And I want to tell people to be open minded. To look at other therapies.

“We have faced on a certain level what happens if one of us is left on their own, but our view is it just ain’t going to happen.”

“It may be selfish but until I feel as though I’m losing—and I’ll have to be in a pretty bad way for that to happen-I won’t do.”

Susan gently puts her hand on his arm “Rather than you don’t feel you’re losing, you know that we’re winning,” she says.

When Simon MacCorkindale suddenly left TV’s Casualty no one suspected that he was keeping a tragic secret: he had cancer and had been given just five years to live. Now, in this raw and inspiring interview, he and his wife Susan George reveal their daily battle to be strong – and prove doctors wrong

FOR more than three years, he kept it a secret even from his closest friends. Former Casualty star Simon MacCorkindale, who played handsome consultant Harry Harper in the popular BBC series, told very few he was battling cancer.  Even after the disease had spread to his lungs and doctors gave him just five years to live, he and his wife, the iconic Seventies actress Susan George, decided they did not want everyone to know.

‘I didn’t want to make a fuss,’ says Simon. ‘We are very private people and wanted to deal with it on our own.’

Their ordeal began when Simon, 57, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006, after complaining of stomach cramps while filming in Bristol.

At first, the couple, who have just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, were told by doctors that it had been caught in time.

Simon, they were reassured, could expect a swift and full recovery after surgeons removed a 2ft diseased section of his bowel. But a year later, they were hit by the devastating news that the cancer had spread to his lungs. It was incurable.

‘It came as a complete bombshell,’ says Simon. ‘It was the last thing in the world that I expected. I had gone for a routine check-up thinking everything was fine.

‘The news hit me like a sledgehammer because right up to that point, I thought I had beaten bowel cancer and it was all done and dusted. All I could think about was how Suzie was going to take the news.’

Speaking publicly for the first time about how fighting the disease has changed their lives, Simon and Susan say they didn’t want people to feel sorry for them. Simon says: ‘We thought no one needed to know because, for the first year or so, we didn’t think it was that serious.

‘On a more practical level, showbusiness is a difficult place in which to work when people think you’re sick.

‘It’s not easy keeping a big secret like this. We have had to tell little fibs, to mask things. The pressure has been enormous. But the news has been slowly creeping out and at least this way we can tell the story in our own words.

‘People also have such a fear of the ‘C’ words – both cancer and chemotherapy. These have a hugely negative impact. But I’m sitting here perfectly healthy. I don’t want people to think that I’m pale, losing my hair, losing weight and on the way out. I’m not. I’m as active as I’ve ever been.’

Simon has turned down theatre work to be at home. Instead, he is helping to compile Susan’s autobiography about her Hollywood days and assisting with the stud farm and equine photography business.

‘It’s important for people who either have this or maybe soon will learn they have to know that. More people are surviving. And I want to tell people to be open-minded. To look at other therapies.

I’m using a mix of different therapies, that work for me. I’m not saying what people should do but if I can help one person to look at what else is out there, then I’d be happy.’

For a man who supposedly has only three years left, Simon is looking remarkably healthy. He’s lost 181b of excess weight thanks to his new eating regime, but it sits well on his 6ft frame.

His brown hair looks thick and luxuriant and his face has the ruddy glow of a man who’s been spending his time outdoors, helping Susan, 59, run their 45-acre Arabian stud farm on Exmoor.

Apart from a slight, persistent cough due to his damaged lungs, he appears to be in very good shape. If anything, it is Susan who is showing signs of stress brought on by her husband’s ongoing fight for his life. Famously blonde, she is rather pale, but determined.

In a frank and, understandably, often emotional interview, the couple explain why they both refuse – even now – to accept the initial prognosis that the disease is incurable. It’s not our nature to think negatively,’ says Susan. Tm the eternal optimist and Simon is entirely indefatigable.

‘We will always look for a way to solve a problem.

I’m not saying that we are away with the fairies. We are practical people, but we won’t get ourselves bogged down by statistics and time frames.

‘Every case is different and a lot depends on one’s mental attitude.

‘We have to believe and never stop believing that we can come out of this thing with a good result. Never underestimate the power of the mind and spirit. I’m not necessarily talking a cure, but the aim is to shrink the cancer – to get rid of it. At the moment we feel that we are winning the battle.’

Simon, who is now receiving a six-month course of fortnightly chemotherapy treatments, has placed his trust in a combination of alternative and conventional medicines. This includes homeopathy, a strict macrobiotic diet, use of Amazonian herbs and spiritual healing.

It’s a devastating blow for someone who had, until then, rarely been ill. But remarkably, the actor, who built a 30-year career on stage and TV playing handsome, often caddish roles, says he still feels ‘lucky’. His condition was diagnosed early.

It was during a hectic six-day-a-week filming schedule in Bristol that he first felt unwell. Simon says: ‘I started to get a very gripey feeling in my tummy.

‘I went as pale as a sheet and started to break out in a sweat, which I didn’t think anything of.

‘Someone asked me if I was all right, and I said I felt pretty grim, but that was about it. I thought, if anything, it might have been something I ate.’

He returned to his hotel room to sleep it off. But when a doctor on set heard about the incident he persuaded Simon to have tests done at the nearby Bristol Royal Infirmary. Initial results revealed slight anemia. Simon was, however, referred to a private consultant and two weeks later he was booked in for an internal bowel examination.

‘It was to make sure everything was fine and my fitness wasn’t masking anything,’ Simon explains. But, after the examination, as he lay recovering from a mild sedative, a consultant told him they had found a malignant tumour in the colon.

‘He told me it was very early stages. That we’d caught it and there were no immediate signs of it penetrating the bowel wall, so with surgery he could whip out a length of colon, stitch me back up again, and it would be fine. I said, “OK, that’s what we’ll do.’”

But first, Simon had to go home and tell Susan. The actress, who appeared with Dustin Hoffman in the infamous cult movie Straw Dogs and was once voted the sexiest woman in the world, drastically cut back on acting ten years ago to concentrate on her passion – breeding horses – and Simon’s career.

Her face intensifies and her voice thickens with emotion as she recalls the moment Simon told her of his condition.

She says:’ “It’s not great,” he said in a deadpan manner. “I have a tumour. I was incredibly shocked and frightened.’ Simon, as befits the Hailey-bury-educated son of an RAF officer, was his usual stoic self. ‘Pretty soon, we both resolved we would beat this.  We took the “lucky” approach. We still feel very lucky. If I hadn’t been working on Casualty, I might never have been checked. I felt I had been a very lucky boy.’  Simon opted to arrange surgery during a two-week gap in Casualty’s schedule a few weeks later – despite doctors recommending he take ten to 12 weeks to recover. The operation was booked for two hours but took double the time because of minor complications.

Susan, who was waiting with one of her close friends, tearfully recalls: ‘I was a nervous wreck once it went over the two hours. I probably drove the nurses crazy with my questions, but they let me hold his hand in the recovery room until he came around.’

A series of tests was carried out, to see if the cancer had spread. Simon says: ‘About ten days later, we got the results. It all looked very positive. It was very, very early stage malignant, which was good. The cancer hadn’t penetrated the bowel wall, and 27 lymph nodes in the area were also tested. All came back clean and clear. That was very good.’

There was, however, one nagging problem. The results showed a few small spots on Simon’s lungs. The doctors didn’t actually know what they were,’ he says.

They said some people have these specks for years, that they can be brought on by pesticides, the environment, anything, and are particularly common in the US, where I lived for several years.’

Simon, who, with Susan, has practiced yoga for more than 15 years, returned to Casualty less than three weeks after surgery – despite Susan’s strong protest.

‘I wanted him to give himself more time to heal,’ she says. ‘But I understood he needed the distraction and the challenge of doing what he loves.’

Despite being a little overweight, from his time recovering – he wasn’t having chemotherapy at the time -Simon says he felt fine.

He was also booked to have scans on his lungs every three months, to keep tabs on the ‘specks’.

At Christmas 2006, the actor was given a six-month sabbatical from the BBC1 show to make his return to the stage for the first time in 20 years. He joined a touring production of the Agatha Christie play The Unexpected Guest, produced by Bill Kenwright.

Susan remained behind at the 17th Century farmhouse they share, looking after Georgian Arabians, their Arabian stud business. These days, the woman who was once a regular on the London party circuits and who dated both Prince Charles and George Best, is happiest mucking out stables in her jeans and wellies.

‘Animals in general and horses in particular, have been the great love of my life,’ she says, ‘and the stud is a huge enterprise.’ And so, it seemed, their life returned to normal. The couple were confident that they had ‘dodged a bullet’.

Then on May 29, 2007 – a date for ever imprinted in their minds – they received the devastating diagnosis that Simon’s cancer had spread to his lungs.

Simon says: ‘I went for the result of my latest scan and to show just how blase and cavalier we were by then, I went to the oncologist on my own on my way to Casualty.

‘We really thought it would be fine. But, on that day he said to me, “It’s not good. The spots on the lungs have grown.”

‘I was shocked. He said I had lung cancer – me, who never smoked a cigarette my whole life and always tried to live a healthy lifestyle. He said it was incurable. It was such a body blow that my mind went numb. I managed to ask him what that meant. Had I got 20 years, ten years or five minutes? He said, “Well, five years.”‘

At this point, the couple hug and show the bond that has kept them strong over the past three-and-a-half years. They are clearly devoted to each other and, says Susan, inseparable. They do everything together, even ‘thinking as one’.

It has, they both agree, been that way since they first met in 1977 at an Ella Fitzgerald concert at London’s Grosvenor House. Susan says: ‘We’ve just found the concert programme from the night we met and Simon’s phone number is written inside it. Isn’t that amazing?’

Both were in other relationships. He and Susan, then two of the film world’s most glamorous actors, became good friends and started dating in 1982. They were married in Fiji in 1984.

With tears in her eyes as she lays a hand on her husband’s arm, Susan recalls how Simon broke the news of his lung cancer to her. ‘I shall never forget that moment as long as I live. He came home and I could tell by look on his face that something was terribly wrong.

‘He sat on the couch and I between his knees. When he told me I burst into floods of tears. We fell into one another’s arms and we cried. We cried lots.’ They shared the devastating news with a few extremely close friends, some of whom had firsthand experience of cancer, and took hope from stories of less conventional treatments.

Simon immediately switched to a macrobiotic diet – which is favoured by Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow and has been credited with health benefits in cancer patients. It meant cutting out foods such as meat, wheat, dairy and refined sugars.

When he returned to star in his last series of Casualty in late 2007, he continued to keep his condition a secret. It was, he says, sometimes a surreal experience. ‘There were times, playing a doctor in Casualty, I had to play scenes telling someone they had cancer, or an incurable disease.

That was a cracker. Knowing what was going on in my own case, made it feel very strange.

‘In my case, it was a waiting game to see what would happen. I took a positive approach.’

Simon refused to stop working. He went straight into a national tour of Sleuth. And just over a year ago, he made another return to the stage as Captain Georg Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music at The London Palladium.

They continued pursuing alternative therapy. Last January, Simon took a week’s leave and flew to Dubai for sessions with a Pranic healer, a system of ‘energy medicine’. He also began using botanicals from the Amazon.

Then after the musical ended its run, Simon discovered the cancer on his lung was growing more aggressively.

To restore his strength, he and Susan spent 12 weeks in Atlanta in America, where he had intensive homeopathy to rebuild his immune system and low-dose chemotherapy – and continued with the alternative treatments.

It seemed to work and in June a scan showed the cancer growth had stopped. Buoyed with optimism they continued their relentless pursuit of alternatives and information. ‘We were very blessed,’ says Simon, ‘being guided to remarkable experts.’ He is now being treated at the London Oncology Clinic, using a renowned specialist, a nutritionist and homeopath.

Simon says: ‘His words, the best words for a long time, were, “What you have now is not life-threatening at the moment”. He has given me the belief that this can be dealt with.

‘On that basis, I have now begun the chemotherapy – a huge decision.’ Now two treatments into the six-month course of 12, Simon is feeling strong. He describes the side effects as ‘virtually negligible’.

But it was, ironically, on their 25th wedding anniversary last month that Simon had a reminder that he is not immortal.

He complained of chest pains that turned out to be viral pneumonia. He spent three days in hospital and, looking back, sees it as a wake-up call.

‘That was rough. It was the first time I realised that it is having an effect,’ he says. ‘But I think Suzie has rougher days than I do.

‘However much you don’t want to leave someone on their own, leaving is easier than staying. I think you can deal with that yourself, more easily than they can. But I say that, and yet we believe I’m not going anywhere.’

Her eyes well up once more. ‘It’s so hard to know that he’s having to go through this. I believe, you know, I really believe we will get through this. I just have a few lonely times, when I cry out from inside.’

Asked if they’ve made plans, in case the worst happens, Simon replies not. ‘Until I feel as though I’m losing – and I’ll have to be in a pretty bad way for that to happen – I won’t.

‘But there’s no doubt that every scan will be a big moment.’

News of The World

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Daily Mail

A message of support has already been sent to Simon from the site. We obviously will continue sending our devoted love and support to both Simon & Susan for the future & believe one hundred percent he will get through this.

They are both in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.