Dying man reveals ultimate want in emotional speech – ‘I dwell in hope’

A dying cancer patient who has months left to live revealed his final wish for the future during Labour’s manifesto launch.

Nathaniel Dye, who lives in the Ilford North constituency, bravely stood up and told his story ahead of the manifesto launch this morning. The 38-year-old music teacher told how he was forced to wait 15 weeks between going to his GP and starting treatment for what was eventually diagnosed as stage 4 incurable bowel cancer.

Mr Dye said: “When I was first diagnosed in October 2022 – it looked like I might be able to survive the bowel cancer that spread to my liver but when further spread was discovered my prognosis worsened.

“No matter how much gruelling treatment I volunteered to put myself through, one thing is certain – this cancer will kill me. And one day it will grow back and one day too soon it will end my life.

“There’s nothing I can do about it now but I can’t stop wondering what might have been. Because I spent over 100 days waiting for cancer treatment when the government’s target is 62.

“And there’s a chance that if chemotherapy had come sooner, my cancer might not have spread. It’s no one person’s fault that scans and appointments took so long to come through.

“So many wonderful people in the NHS have worked tirelessly to care for me as they do everyone at the time of their greatest need. But it’s clear that the system has badly let me down.

“I represent the human cost of an NHS neglected over the past 14 years and I invite anyone who stands by that dismal record in government to look me in the eye and say that it is good enough.”

Mr Dye, who works in a primary school, described a notable Wednesday during the process when his phone buzzed as he was about to teach his infant choir class. He was left “shaking” and “distressed” after being told of more waiting.

He went on to say: “I see Labour’s policy to deliver 40,000 more appointments a week to clear the NHS backlog and cut waiting times as a real tangible plan to give people the treatment they need before it’s too late.

“It is too late for me but it’s not too late to call for change, to support those who would improve the NHS.”

Mr Dye praised his local MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting, who is the Shadow Health Secretary and is also a cancer survivor.

He added: “This looks being my last General Election and I’m desperate to make it count. I’m proud to say that a Labour government is what I hope for now that my own hope is gone.

“Because with Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour party is a party that will govern for all of us. Labour is the part of hope for a brighter future that I won’t live to see – but you really could. I live in hope.”

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