Dai Henwood: What Facing Death Is Teaching Me About Life

Dai Henwood: What Facing Death Is Teaching Me About Life

From Between Two Beers Podcast by Steven Holloway & Seamus Marten

April 12, 2026 · 2h 27m · Episode 256

About this episode

Dai Henwood shares his journey of facing terminal cancer and the lessons about life and happiness he has learned along the way.

In April 2020, during lockdown, Dai Henwood received a terminal cancer diagnosis. He kept it hidden. He kept doing stand-up. He kept doing interviews. He kept being Dai Henwood, while privately getting to grips with something nobody in his family had ever faced before. Four and a half years after his first appearance on the show, he sits back down with Steve and Seamus. Dai walks us through 52 rounds of chemo, 8 surgeries, a death ceremony in Japan, a three-part documentary, a book, and the moment he stopped acting like himself and started actually being himself. But this isn't a cancer story. It's a story about what happens when the fear of death is gone, and nothing remains but the joy of living. They talk about what a successful week actually looks like now. Why men need to hug each other more. The hardest thing he's ever done that isn't chemo. Why happiness is a calm emotion and most of us have never actually felt it. Steve and Seamus are proud to be dressed by the legends at Barkers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: Steven Holloway, Seamus Marten

Guest: Dai Henwood

Topics covered

  • cancer journey
  • facing death
  • joy of living
  • mental health
  • male friendships
  • personal growth

Keywords

  • Dai Henwood
  • cancer diagnosis
  • chemo
  • happiness
  • personal growth
  • male bonding
  • life lessons

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Barkers

Books & works: three-part documentary, book

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