AutismMumma

I don't watch reality TV as a norm. Anxiety attacks a la "I'm a Celebrity"? My children face and conquer those every day going about their routines, meltdowns similar to "Celebrity Big Brother"? I care for and live with autism so, again, it's all too familiar. Albeit for different reasons.

What I have been watching is "Peter Andre - My Life", the second and third series have been showing in the mornings on ITV2.

I started recording and watching it as I wondered how the programme would portray Pete's brother (Andrew Andre) and his battle with cancer.

If you generally read reviews of Pete's show (Ian Hyland's for example), it's usually "Peter Andre (he loves his kids)" and it's normally in a mocking tone.

Naively I also wondered - prior to watching - if Pete's brother was happy to be filmed.

Having watched series two and nearly all of series three, I think Pete and his family have done an amazing job of raising awareness of a non-discriminator disease that will strike randomly regardless of age, gender, race and wellbeing.

The programmes showed the highs and the lows and all the adult family members were very open about their feelings, but at the same time very optimistic that treatments would reap positive results.

Watching the footage of Andrew meeting people, them telling him about friends/relatives who were also suffering and his positive responses were heart-warming, he wanted his journey to be told, to be open and raise awareness.

The fanbase who watch the programmes are no doubt more aware and open to discussions around cancer as a result, which can only be a benefit.

Unfortunately Andrew lost his battle with cancer - see article here - and my sympathies go to the whole family, to mourn in the public eye cannot be easy.

So, on World Cancer Awareness Day, I've got admiration for Pete and his whole family. They didn't have to agree to filming some extremely personal family moments but they did and it can only benefit other families suffering with the disease.

And yes, his love for his children and his "Embolism" shine through, they've got a fantastic role model and extended family.

I think the next step would be for a Cancer charity to make Pete a patron, his profile would be a definite benefit.

Thanks for reading Jx 😘