As of today Jim Perrin has not died of his ‘Terminal Lung Cancer’ — the diagnosis he claimed to have been given by the medical profession — and for which, he was at pains to explain, he had specifically elected to receive no treatment of any kind, neither surgical nor palliative; no hospitalisation or the intervention of doctors. He made a great point of this. It seems that it needed to be said. Otherwise how could he have justified his decision to refuse the cancer treatment —which would almost certainly have been the course of action for one who was genuinely diagnosed — without giving the lie to his elaborate subterfuge. His ‘explanation’ was cleverly contrived to pre-empt all suspicion.
In West, published in July 2010, he wrote in detail and at length about his ‘illness’, and in an article in the Times, 13/07/2010, he added: ‘Post-script: My cancer, not worth mentioning in my view [yet here, clearly, he is doing just that], carries a one chance in ten of survival beyond five years. In November I’ll be three years in.’ So stoic; so very brave…