New book by Lancaster professor tells story of short but inspirational life of young Heysham woman

Peer more closely and you will spot an inscription revealing that the glass work had been restored by the familes and friends of three young pals who had died from cancer around about the same time.

One of them was Heysham-born Anne Charlesworth, an intelligent, caring and lovely young woman who was just 28 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two years later she died in St John’s Hospice but not before making lasting impressions on many, many people.

One was Professor Malcolm McIllmurray and he has never forgotten the young girl he first came across more than 30 years ago when she came under his care.

At the time Professor McIllmurray was the locally based cancer specialist who through sheer force of personality, strong drive and inspiring leadership was the major force behind the establishment of CancerCare and St John’s Hospice.

Now he has written a book simply called ‘Anne Faith and Hope’ which chronicles the short yet inspirational life of Anne Charlesworth. And Anne, herself, contributes through her poetry and some heart wrenching, yet beautiful, self-portraits that help illustrate her journey from the depths of despair to eventual wonderment of calmness and peace.

There are others who helped Anne on her final journey. Her older sister Jill was one and she recalls that when Anne was just six she inexplicably said: “I’m going to die by the time I am 30”. It was a brief conversation and one that Jill kept a secret preferring to remember happier times with her ‘brave, bold and sometimes bolshie sister’.

American author Lynne Alexander, one time writer-in-residence at the hospice, tells of her friendship with Anne, whom she describes as ‘blond, beautiful, smart, talented’. She talks of their meetings and witnessing Anne’s ‘philosophical quest’ towards enlightenment and how she viewed the illness that ‘changed her for the better’.

And Professor McIllmurray reserves special mention for the late Sister Aine Cox, the founder matron of St John’s Hospice who, perhaps above all, helped Anne explore the wider questions of ‘meaning and purpose’. Sister Aine and Anne struck up a firm friendship based on sharing their doubts, regrets and disappointments in life. Anne, though always questioned whether a God existed and Sister Aine always challenged that view.

It was to Sister Aine that Anne once again turned soon after returning from a holiday that was cut short because she had found a new lump. Unable to find either Malcom McIllmurray or Sister Aine she was at her lowest ebb. But then she experienced a dramatic religious experience.

Sister Aine had always wondered whether Anne had wanted God ‘badly enough’, but now they both had the answer. Anne recalled that in her solitude, she was suddenly ‘bathed in light and having an overwhelming sense of calm’. “It was HIM”, Anne exclaimed.

Almost overnight, Anne’s demeanour changed; she was at peace with the world.

When she died, her parents along with Sister Aine were at her bedside and Sister Aine later was to say it was the most beautiful death she had ever witnessed. It was the death of a ‘special, special person’.

Malcolm McIllmurray makes clear he thinks Anne’s story is a remarkable one, particularly in the way she found that ‘powerfully real and transforming spiritual experience’ that helped her discover a ‘spiritual wholeness’ allowing her to approach her death with total acceptance, calmness and peace.

The book also discloses that Ann’e sister Jill, in comforting her father, told him of that secret conversation she had had many years earlier when the youngster had predicated her own death.

Her father’s touching reply was “Perhaps her life was not cut short at 30 after all; perhaps her life was complete at 30”.

There is little doubting that Malcolm McIllmurray has written a truly inspirational book.

It is a tale of a young woman who fought a brave battle against a cruel illness and who on the way discovered not only calmness and peace but also spiritual enlightenment. Her paintings and her poems are themselves a testimony to her struggle and to a remarkable person.

Where to buy the book

Thirty years to the day after Anne’s death there was a rededication of the window at Slynedales. It commemorates Anne and her two friends Tricia Holland and Paul Beswick and written across it are the words Love and Friendship Endure.

lMalcolm McIllmurray DM FRCP is a consultant physician and medical oncologist, now retired. He was appointed to North Lancashire and South Lakeland in 1978 and helped establish St John’s Hospice, where he was medical director and CancerCare of which he is Life President.

Anne Faith and Hope is published by Marius Press, Over Kellet, and all proceeds are going to the hospice and CancerCare. No price is affixed, but a donation of at least £5 would be appreciated. The book is available from St Johns Hospice (01524 382538) or any of the Hospice charity shops; Cancercare (01524 381820) or its offices in Kendal and Barrow in

Furness or by contacting [email protected]