Of fish and men

Visionary fisherman Mick May set up a charity to give cancer patients the opportunity to find some peace in fishing. A year after his death, our correspondent joins the trustees for a day in pursuit of trout to honour his friend’s memory

- David Profumo

THIS is the story of a brave man and some of the good things that have happened since his death. A long time ago, I was at school with a teenager named Mick May—an insubordinate youth, whom I was convinced would come to no good. I was wrong. After a successful City career, he did sterling work in the charitable sector and was awarded an OBE. Then, in May 2013, a deadly tumour was found in his lung, with a terminal diagnosis of mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. A punishing programme of surgery and repeated ‘lines’ of chemo ensued, and Mick somehow managed to survive until March 7, 2022. He published a notable book—Cancer and Pisces—which clearly and unsparingly tells the story of his illness ‘interwoven with the joy and succour of fishing’, from the Test at Mottisfont in Hampshire to Tierra del Fuego off South America. It celebrates the invigorating experience of angling, as well as con- templating ‘the nature of death’. Yet, as his Russian guide Yegor once put it, he was ‘the one who is always happy’.

During lockdown in 2021, Mick was put in touch with author and instructor Marina Gibson and they discussed the idea of a new, inclusive charity for cancer patients, which would introduce them to the therapeutic benefits of fishing. Mick also contacted Dame Laura Lee—former oncological nurse and now chief executive of the admirable Maggie’s cancer support centres—and it became clear they might work together. After a little magical thinking, the Cancer and Pisces Trust (C&P) was born