I’ve lived near some of the remaining fragments of the Great North Wood for two decades, but took them for granted until cancer came into my life. Maybe there is a wider message in there somewhere.

Until the autumn of 2020, when I started a six month course of chemotherapy, they were a nice little place down the road. Since my life changed they have become the place I go to think, to renew, to reflect and ultimately to soak up the glory of nature.

I’ve watched the seasons come and go, I’ve stumbled and fallen, I’ve changed direction to make a new route. And I’ve learned to live with cancer.

In part that’s because the wood has been a guiding light from which I have taken inspiration. Ancient meadows which have seen industry come and go, not to mention a railway, and yet have come back strongly to thrive again. I’m not exactly ancient, but after 18 months of injections, a stem cells transplant, chemotherapy and loads more, I am determined to come back as strongly as I possibly can.

There is something else here too: the power of humanity to carry us through the darkest of times. Whenever I see a volunteer in the wood, or take a newly fenced off path, I am humbled by what has been done for me and all those who use the wood to allow us to enjoy this life-affirming place. 

The same is true of my experience of cancer. The support of so many people, many of them strangers who have become new friends, has perversely made it an experience within which I have found deep nourishment and strength. Just as the autumn colours, the muddy dips and the snow covered paths of the Great North Wood have lifted my soul, so has the friendship and support I have found in the depths of cancer treatment. 

The song I have written with the wonderful songwriter James Grant, formerly of the band Love and Money as well being an accomplished solo artist, tries to capture the importance of the wood in my cancer journey, and the way it has provided a refuge during some of the most difficult times in my life, while also giving me a sense of the possibility of renewal out of the nightmare of cancer. The music is down to James, while we wrote the words together: an experience which was in itself one of the most enriching and inspiring of my life.

Listen to Mark and James' song 'Cleave To This Life'

I’m looking out at the wood as I write this, reflecting on how fortunate I am to have it right on my doorstep. There’s a message there too: sometimes the things which are the most important to us are right in front us. The wood has taught me to remember that, to hold on for better days and to never give up hope. 

That it thrives still in our city is thanks to those who give their time and their humanity for others. We owe them a great deal because the impact of what they do probably goes a lot further than they might imagine.