Churchill might tell me something about the art of statecraft, or Fry about the pressures of fame and the joy of words, but someone closer to home, with a life more like mine and challenges more like mine, will tell me far more about a life with mental health difficulty and how best to live it.

BBC: Viewpoint: Do famous role models help or hinder?

So when she asked me to tell her more about the cancer, I explained that it had spread not only to her ovaries but also to her lymph nodes.

NEWYORKER: Letting Go