183: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE & guest Dr Patrick Hanaway183: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE & guest Dr Patrick Hanaway
UK Health Radio Podcast
Robin Daly talks with Dr Patrick Hanaway about his late-stage cancer journey, his work in functional and integrative medicine, and the spiritual and emotional dimensions of healing. Their conversation considers connection, nature and five core healing emotions as central to living fully, whatever the outcome of illness.
46:07•30 Jul 2026
Saying Yes to Life: Dr Patrick Hanaway on Cancer, Connection and True Healing
Episode Overview
- Healing can involve body, mind and spirit, with ancient wisdom sitting alongside modern functional medicine.
- A serious cancer diagnosis may prompt a choice between passive acceptance and actively wanting to live.
- Asking for help and leaning on relationships can be just as important as medical treatments.
- Spending time in nature, along with practices like prayer, may significantly influence the healing experience.
- Courage, humour, gratitude, grief and awe are presented as key emotions that reconnect people to inner wisdom and the sacred.
“In order to be truly helpful and a benefit to our people in this life, one has to fall in love with all of creation.”
What drives someone to seek a life that feels truly whole – body, mind and spirit? This Yes To Life Show brings together Robin Daly and Dr Patrick Hanaway MBE for a thoughtful, grounded conversation about what genuine healing might look like, especially in the face of cancer. You'll hear Dr Hanaway reflect on his parallel paths: a high-profile career in functional and integrative medicine, and decades spent learning from Tibetan, Ayurvedic and indigenous traditions.
He talks about moving from being seen as a "scientist, researcher, teacher" towards embracing the role of healer, where molecular biology sits alongside systems thinking, gratitude, prayer and relationship with the natural world. A central part of the episode is Dr Hanaway’s own late-stage laryngeal cancer diagnosis and what he calls his "dark night of the soul".
He speaks openly about the moment his son challenged him to decide whether he truly wanted to live, and how asking for help, receiving support, and spending slow, quiet time in nature shaped his recovery as much as chemo, radiation and diet. The conversation also digs into five "healing emotions" or antidotes – courage, humour, gratitude, grief and awe – and how they can reconnect people to inner wisdom and a sense of the sacred.
Robin and Patrick link these emotions to rising levels of anxiety and disconnection, suggesting that reconnection to other people, to nature, and to something larger than the individual may be as important as any protocol. Towards the end, they play with ideas around imagination versus creativity, synchronicity, and why Dr Hanaway prefers to see so‑called miracles as simply "the way the world is" rather than rare exceptions.
It all culminates in a striking invitation to look at healing and happiness through a wider lens. If you’re curious about how science, spirituality and serious illness can sit side by side, this conversation might prompt you to ask what you’re really saying "yes" to in your own life.
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