Cancer and Pisces

In 2013, Mick May was diagnosed with the fatal asbestos-linked cancer, mesothelioma, whose average medical life expectancy is 10 months. Seven years later he is flourishing, full of joie de vivre, with a long life-expectancy ahead of him. His case has made medical history and is giving new hope to a multitude of terminally ill cancer sufferers around the world. Mick's medical journey makes for a fascinating read as it weaves from the pain of his many treatments to the pleasures of his frequent fishing trips to British and exotic international rivers. Threaded into this are snapshots of Mick's creation and leadership of a leading offender rehabilitation charity; his deepening religious faith; his successful legal action against the merchant bank whose offices exposed him to asbestos in the 1980s; his chairmanship of a school ravaged by the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, and the happiness of his family life with his remarkable wife and six children.

Mick May spent twenty years in finance where increasingly he saw himself (pretty accurately) as the worst banker in the City of London. His second career saw him set up and grow the social enterprise Blue Sky; over the past decade and a half it has succeeded in employing almonst 2000 released prisoners. In 2016 his work with ex-offenders was recognised with the award of an OBE. Since retirement on medical grounds he has chaired the boards of a couple of charities and an academy.