Recovering oesophageal cancer patient performs with his band The Happy Now at a charity gig in aid of PROGRESS

Mike had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in October 2024 after a visit to his GP surgery in Merrow where he was referred for an endoscopy at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford. He recalled: “I had a frightening stage 3 diagnosis and one seemingly terrifying surgical option”.

“While digesting my own mortality, I was offered the chance to take part in the Optimus trial at Surrey University. The study looks at the impact of exercise on the production of white blood cells and their subsequent role in reducing tumour sizes and the accompanying benefit to survivability of getting through chemo and surgery”.

“I took great comfort in having something I could control when in the rest of the process I was just a passenger”.

Surgery followed at RSCH. Now Mike is well enough to be back on the road with his 80s and 90s indie and post punk covers band, playing at venues across the area. Mike said: “I have always played in different rock bands over the years and music was a great solace through my treatment”.

“Being able to get back playing , and especially singing, was such a joy. We are looking forward to our 2026 gigs and raising funds for PROGRESS whenever we can.”

Of The Star performance, Mike said: “It was a huge success. I invited many people who had helped us get through the process as a family, looking after our children, supporting my wife etc, and we raised £2,429 through Just Giving.”

If you would like to see The Happy Now play, they will be on stage at the Albury Music Festival on July 19th. The band comprises of wife and husband Robyn Wright, vocals, and Alan on bass, Mark Thackstone on guitar and Jon Stanley on drums. In our photos, Mike is the one in the green shirt on guitar, cornet and vocals.