In Episode One we meet three people who share one thing: hope to be cleared of cancer. In North Wales, Sally, a mother of five, is hoping that a life-saving stem-cell transplant will finally end her relationship with a disease she has lived with for ten years. With news that a perfect match has been found in America it's possible she may finally be cancer-free, but with her body so exhausted from years of treatment, it's a procedure that brings with it huge risk. Meanwhile in Leeds, we meet Dominic in the consulting room as he learns that he is one of the very few men in the country to be diagnosed with breast cancer.A straight-talking Yorkshire man, Dominic spends much of his time with his prized competition Birmingham Roller Pigeons. As he waits for his mastectomy, it's his pigeons that occupy his mind rather than his cancer.In London, Yvette, a belly-dance teacher and performer, faces a critical decision; her breast cancer, which she has been keen keeping in check for 20 years, begins to spread once more. With her treatment regime no longer working, Yvette is offered the chance to be at the forefront of medical science and join a clinical trial - but it's a leap in the dark and she waits anxiously to discover whether these new drugs might be the right ones for her.
In episode two we meet 83 year-old June (pictured) and her three daughters in the consulting room, as a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is confirmed. The decision to have no treatment imposes a timeframe on June's life and the effect of this ripples through the generations, as her daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren face up to her imminent death.
In the last episode, three people face up to the reality of life or death with cancer.We meet 33 year-old Mark as he receives treatment in the chemotherapy unit at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. Mark's prognosis is terminal; he has been living with bowel cancer for five years, and knowing that the clock is ticking he has one dream - to live long enough to see his young son on his first day of school.Over the year we see Mark and his wife Kerrie enjoy the time they have, but each appointment brings his prognosis into sharp relief: good news means they can hide from his cancer for a while, bad means they have to reassess their shrinking future.Fifty year-old Steve (pictured), a self-employed painter and decorator, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. We join him as he wraps up work on the building site in readiness for surgery, which will see him unable to work for two months. Being out of action means no earnings - an additional worry for the whole family.Post-surgery, Steve is determined to put his cancer behind him, but setbacks in his recovery mean he's not going to get back to normal as quickly as he'd planned. As he awaits the all-important results, Steve reflects on what it means to have cancer, and reveals how important it is for him to go back to being the normal guy he once was.For mother-of-three and trainee vicar Katy, the offer of a clinical trial to prevent the return of her malignant melanoma is a chance she has to take, but she knows there may be dangerous side-effects. As she celebrates her daughter's wedding, we see her wrestle with the decision: put up with the side-effects or live in fear of her cancer returning.
