I grew up in New Zealand after emigrating with my family in the mid 1960s from Swansea in the south of Wales (I consider myself a Welsh-Kiwi). I live in Wellington with my lovely wife Gillian and our beautiful toddler sons Rhys and Matthew.

I am a survivor of seven cancer encounters since my teens, involving at least one new diagnosis or recurrence in each of the five decades since the '70s. I was diagnosed with an incurable lymphoma as a 19 year old in 1979 and 'given' up to 10 years to live.

I have belied my prognosis but have had to fight hard and increasingly smart to cope with the many surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimes, stem-cell transplant and myriad of other procedures I've had to endure along the way. It is this direct and very personal experience together with research and enquiry I have carried out over decades that I am able to bring to the causes of other people affected by cancer.

I left my job as a corporate management boffin at the end of 2004 after my lifetime 6th cancer battle. I made sea changes to my life to better align it with my personal values. I wrote my book Life, Happiness… & Cancer; became a life coach and began sharing my knowledge and experience with people coping with illness and the suffering and hardships that brings.

In 2007, from hundreds of nominees around the world I was honoured to win an international Re-Building Lives Award in Vienna, Austria for my survival journey and for my work in cancer patient support.

At the American Cancer Society's 2011 International Relay For Life Summit in Florida, USA, the ACS appointed me as an International Hero of Hope for 2011/12. As New Zealand's Hero of Hope I've been honoured with recognition as someone who has impacted my community, and who will serve as the voice and face of Relay For Life in NZ until August 2012.