For the first time since my stage four cancer was diagnosed I have dared to look forward

THIS week, for the first time in over a year, I caught a glimpse of hope.

- Dame Esther Rantzen

For the first time since my stage four cancer was diagnosed, I have dared to look forward. I cannot describe how good that feels.

Thank you, Lord Falconer. He came second in the ballot for a Private Members' Bill, so he has chosen to introduce today, in the House of Lords, the first reading of a Bill to enable assisted dying.

So now, for the first time, I can see a gleam of light at the end of a tunnel which has trapped me for so long.

I and thousands of other terminally ill patients who feel like me are truly grateful.

When you're told that you have terminal cancer and that there is no cure, it changes you. Of course, we're all different, so no doubt we have different bucket lists and have made different plans, but in my case, I sorted out my will, thought about my funeral, joined Dignitas and made arrangements for a flight to Zurich.

I've been incredibly lucky and have had several lovely trips to Switzerland in the past. However, my aim next time won't be to admire the Alps, but to die there.