After four brain tumours in 14 years Dan Horrocks has developed a strategy for dealing with the mental burden that comes with the recurrence of cancer. “I compartmentalise. I know it’s there but I think about it when I need to think about it. I just get on with my life,” he says.
Looking six months ahead is not useful. “Then I’ll be getting upset and feeling really depressed. Generally I don’t speak about it. My longevity …” he says and then stops, because his wife, Sonia Khan, is becoming visibly upset and his eyes too are moist.
In Westminster Horrocks and Khan have built careers fixing other people’s political problems. And today they have spoken calmly and clearly about how they have approached his marathon cancer ordeal. Only now do they offer a glimpse of the strain his treatment has placed on…