Pete Harrison - my Facebook friend

You have probably never heard of Peter Harrison. I met him 15 years ago when I produced a concert at the BBC Concert Hall at Broadcasting House. We had very little rehearsal time before performing two sell-out shows, back to back, but Peter was the least of my worries. He was a very good blues guitarist and extremely professional.

That day Peter performed a classic song by Eric Clapton plus one of his own compositions, which didn't seem out of place. A gentle, modest man, he got a great reception.

A year or two later the full Peter Harrison Band performed at another concert I organised, this time at the Royal College of Music. Again, there was no need to concern myself with their performance because they were utterly dependable.

We lost contact after that because I stopped producing music events and our paths no longer crossed.

A few months ago Peter contacted me, out of the blue, via Facebook. He asked how I was and what I was doing.

"Hi Peter," I wrote. "I'm fine thanks - doing this and that. What are you up to?"

He replied: "Spent 4 months in hospital last year fighting cancer and emphysema so things have been better but the radiotherapy has helped enormously."

In April, in response to something I had posted on Facebook about Forest, he commented:

"I would join your campaign but as I have lung cancer from tobacco and another fragrant substance, I feel unable."

To be honest, I wasn't sure how to respond. What is there to say apart from offering heartfelt commiserations?

Yesterday, again on Facebook, I read this message from his daughter Natasha:

To all Peter Harrison's friends:

It is with great sadness that i have to announce that my Dad passed away peacefully (last night) following a battle with lung cancer.

A mutual Facebook friend, who also took part in those concerts a decade and a half ago, has now written:

RIP Pete Harrison, great guy who will be missed. I hadn't seen him for nearly twenty years, I'm grateful to Facebook for giving me a chance to catch up with him before his untimely demise.

I echo those sentiments. I am genuinely very sad, not just for Peter but for the family he leaves behind. Thanks to Facebook, which has brought his loss alive (if you know what I mean), my thoughts are with them.

Comments

[idlex]

I have lung cancer from tobacco and another fragrant substance

Sad to hear of any death. Sadder still to learn that a dying man has been taught to blame himself for his own death.

[Lyn]

Thankfully my first husband who died aged 51 of lung cancer did not blame himself or his smoking habit for his demise. There were many other very viable possible causes of his lung cancer that were identified.

I have said this before, but will again, it was only the cigarettes and coffee that helped me through the months after his death and they still help, 13 years on.

[Norman]

I am not a doctor but it seems to me that the trigger for and vulnerability to a disease must vary from person to person. I would hope that no patient is ever identified (and judged) by his disease rather than as the complete human being in which the illness occurs.Clearly a sick person's morale is a key factor in his or her illness. The placebo effect in medicine is well-known.There is a good deal to be found on the web about the 'nocebo' effect: a belief that if one thinks something will do harm it will. I wonder whether aggressive, graphic health warnings about tobacco will induce depression, hypochondria and eventually ...disease. I have noticed many happy, elderly smokers in my time. The key word is 'happy'.