Six months ago, Barry Du Bois made an announcement.
The co-host of The Living Room told his fans that six years after his initial diagnosis, his cancer had returned. And it was more aggressive this time.
“It seems that my cancer has come back, reasonably aggressively now I have what is regarded as multiple myeloma. We’ve got a cancer in my body that has created several tumours right through my body,” he said.
“In the medical world, I am on the exit off the freeway, there is no doubt about that.
“What I want to do in this journey is to show everybody the things I am going to make sure my exit journey is as long as possible and as easy to handle.”
Now the father-of-two has spoken to Stellar about what he decided to do in the weeks after his received his diagnosis.
He told the publication his doctor initially called him and asked why he didn’t go back in to get the results of his blood test.
Du Bois told the doctor he thought they would have called him if there was something wrong. That’s when his doctor broke the news that his cancer had returned.
After his doctor told Du Bois he needed to start treatment straightaway, he decided to take his family sailing through the Mediterranean instead.
“The doctor said we needed to start three months of treatment straightaway, but I said to myself, ‘What if that doesn’t work and I can never go?’,” he told Stellar.
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“The boat is a love fest. I’ve got those beautiful little babies with me 24/7. We are practically connected at the hip, and I can teach them more in that time than I can in a year in the regular world.”
Du Bois then returned to Australia and started treatment. He says while medical professionals believe he could only have five years to live, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
“The day I went into hospital, I looked like an athlete. I trained like I was training for the Olympics. I wanted to get myself into the best possible shape to fight. I can’t leave my children now, no way can I leave them. And my wife… I’m not going anywhere.”
Speaking on The Living Room in October last year, Du Bois described it as just another fight he is “going to win”.
“Everything I have ever done in my life I have backed myself 100 per cent. I am not only going to back myself I am going to go into this with the support of the most amazing people I know and friends and family that love me that I don’t even know.
“I am going to hopefully not only beat what I’ve got but I am going to inspire some others to win their wars as well.”
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I too am battling cancer - I met Barry last month at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney. I was waiting for my gym session to start. He was absolutely lovely. When I recognised him, he came straight over, shook my hand, took the time to talk to me and wished me luck.