Hannah’s Story on ITV This Morning: What Life Can Teach Us About Change and Uncertainty

Recently, I had the opportunity to appear on ITV’s This Morning to talk about something incredibly close to my heart: the documentary Hannah’s Story.

I’ve appeared on television many times throughout my career, but this was different. This wasn’t about a book I’d written, a programme I was promoting or an idea I wanted to teach.

This was about Hannah.

And it was about a journey that taught me more about love, life, change and uncertainty than anything else I have ever experienced.

When Life Changes

Hannah was my wife, my best friend and one of the most extraordinary people I have ever known.

In 2011, Hannah was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain tumour. In a moment, our lives changed. There was the life we thought we were going to have. And then there was the life that was suddenly in front of us.

I think most of us like certainty. We like to know what is going to happen next. We make plans, create expectations and build pictures in our minds of how our lives, careers, relationships and futures are supposed to unfold.

And then something changes. Sometimes we choose the change. Sometimes change chooses us.

A diagnosis.
A loss.
A relationship ending.
A change at work.
A new beginning.
An unexpected opportunity.

Suddenly, the future we imagined no longer looks quite the same.

Hannah and I lived with that uncertainty for many years. There were operations, treatments, enormous challenges, moments of hope and moments of fear.

We couldn't know what was going to happen. We could only decide how we were going to meet what was happening.

Why We Made Hannah’s Story

During Hannah’s illness, we documented an extraordinary amount of our journey. Eventually, those recordings became Hannah’s Story. But the documentary isn't simply about cancer.

For me, it is a story about what it means to be human when the certainty we crave disappears.

It is about love.
Hope.
Courage.
Fear.
Possibility.

And finding a way to continue living while not knowing what comes next.

Hannah died on 19 May 2023.

That was another change I could never truly have prepared myself for. There was my life with Hannah. And then there was learning how to live in a world without her physically being in it.

Grief itself has taught me so much about change and uncertainty. You don't simply move on from someone you love. You learn to move forward carrying them differently.

Sitting on the This Morning Sofa

Appearing on This Morning gave me the opportunity to share Hannah's story with a much wider audience. Sitting there talking about her was emotional.

But it also reminded me why I believe this story matters beyond Hannah and me. Because all of us are living with change. All of us are living with uncertainty.

We might not always acknowledge it, but none of us really knows what tomorrow will bring. And yet so much of our energy is spent trying to create certainty.

We worry.
We overthink.
We try to control outcomes.
We play conversations over in our heads.
We imagine what might go wrong.
We consume more information hoping that somehow we'll find the answer that makes us feel safe.

But what if the answer isn't always to create more certainty? What if we could develop a different relationship with uncertainty?

STOP 2 THINK

This is becoming increasingly central to the work I am doing today with STOP 2 THINK. Stopping isn't about doing nothing. It's about creating space between what is happening around us and how we respond to it.

Because when change happens, our instinct can be to react.

To hold on.
To resist.
To immediately try to fix things.
To get back to the way things were.

But sometimes there is no going back. There is only learning how to move forward.

For me, STOP 2 THINK is about creating enough space to become aware of what is happening, to contemplate what it means and to appreciate what is still here.

Hannah's journey forced us to do that repeatedly. There were so many things we couldn't control. But there were also things we could choose.

How we spent our time.
What we paid attention to.
How we treated each other.
What we appreciated.
What we hoped for.

And how fully we were prepared to live while the future remained uncertain.

Change Doesn't Always Ask Permission

One of the things Hannah’s Story continues to remind me is that change doesn't always arrive when we're ready for it.

Life doesn't ask: "Is this a convenient time?"

Sometimes everything changes before we've had time to prepare. And perhaps resilience isn't about becoming someone who isn't affected by change.

Maybe it's about developing the capacity to stay connected to ourselves when the world around us changes.

To stop.
To notice what is happening inside us.
To recognise the stories we're telling ourselves.
To distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot.

And then to choose our next step. Not necessarily the next ten steps. Just the next one.

Hannah’s Legacy Continues

One of the most beautiful things for me is seeing how Hannah's influence continues. Her story is reaching people through the documentary.

Her name and legacy continue through work supporting children and families in Uganda, something that became incredibly important to us. And her life continues to influence the person I am becoming and the work I now feel called to do.

I don't want Hannah’s Story simply to be something people watch. I hope it becomes something people feel. Something that causes them to stop and think about their own relationship with life, change and uncertainty.

Because perhaps the goal isn't to create a life where nothing unexpected happens. That life doesn't exist. Perhaps the opportunity is to become someone who can meet change differently.

Someone who can live with uncertainty without allowing it to consume them.
Someone who can appreciate what is here while it is here.
Someone who understands that although we cannot always choose what happens next, we can have a say in who we become through what happens next.

Being invited onto ITV’s This Morning to talk about Hannah’s Story was an incredible privilege. But the most important thing isn't that Hannah's story was on television.

It's that her story is still being told.

And if her story helps someone facing their own period of change to stop, think, appreciate what matters and find the courage to take their next step into an uncertain future, then Hannah continues to make a difference.

Hannah’s Story is a story about cancer.
It is a story about love.
It is a story about change and uncertainty.

But ultimately, it is a story about life. And perhaps the question it leaves us with isn't:
“What is going to happen to me?”

Perhaps it's:
“Who do I want to be, whatever happens next?”

To watch the full documentary https://www.teamhannah.com/