Feisty singer battles breast cancer

SINGER and novelist Marsha Hunt — an icon of beauty and boldness in the Swinging Sixties, is as feisty as ever almost four years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Being able to say I have had a fabulous life affords one a lot less fear about death, especially as I have written books which I would leave behind — as well as children and grandchildren,” she said.

Ms Hunt, the mother of Mick Jagger’s first child, Karis Jagger, was treated for breast cancer at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin.

Yesterday, she returned to the hospital, not as a patient, but as the guest of honour at the opening of its specialist breast centre.

Ms Hunt, now aged 62, is assessed at the hospital every six months but continues to do well.

In June 2004 Ms Hunt, who lives in Ireland, noticed a lump in her breast while working on a book about Jimi Hendrix.

Though she knew she was putting her health in danger she continued writing the book, deciding it was more important.

Between June and November, when she sought treatment, the lump became more swollen and irritated. She had developed third-stage breast cancer by the time she was diagnosed.

At the time, her daughter Karis was in Los Angeles, six weeks away from having a baby. Her daughter was concerned that she could not travel to take care of her but Ms Hunt said she would be fine.

Ms Hunt said she had no fear because her former partner, documentary director, Alan Gilsenan, had been treated for colorectal cancer in the Mater.

The couple had met 10 years previously when he was making a documentary about her and she had moved to Ireland to be with him.

She recalled being very positive when told she had breast cancer and thought how she could make it work for her.

“I decided that if it was going to kill me I was going to have a good time on the way out.”

But it turned out to be a very positive experience and has become part of her life.

“Cancer has been good to me because I have discovered things about myself and the kindness of others that I would not have missed.”

She described her feisty approach to cancer as being up against the ropes in part of her book Undefeated.

“I do not think it is just good fighters who survive cancer. I think you can be lucky. So far I have been lucky. I am still here, but I could be gone tomorrow.”