Barry Du Bois: How he faced his toughest night
Barry Du Bois shocked Australia last year when he announced his cancer had retuned during an episode of The Living Room, which left his co-hosts clearly distraught.
Ahead of the release of his new book Life Force, the television presenter has explained his decision to be so candid and public about his health battle.
In an extract released to the press, Du Bois explained how much mental strength was needed to cope with the devastating diagnosis.
“The power of the mind is incredible. If you come across three people in a row that give you the look that you’re not going to make it’ll, you start to lose faith,” Du Bois wrote.
“So we decided that we’d share my diagnoses with the people who watched the show. We thought if we could take them with us on my journey, it might give others inspiration.
“And there it was.”
Du Bois explained how they cut crew down to its essentials.
“We removed the studio audience. How would we play it? We didn’t know what to do so we were just ourselves. We adlibbed. I told my story; Amanda, Chris and Miguel reacted. What came out of it was empowering to me. It was the first time most of the cameramen had heard the story. There were lots of tears,” he wrote.
“But there was also belief. The amount of times I heard, ‘You’ll do it, Baz’. It was like when my dad told me I was the best at everything. If everyone tells you can do it, you probably can.”
What are your thoughts? Are you going to read Life Force?