On Tuesday, Kate Middleton visited London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, the cancer center where she received treatment after her own diagnosis with the i
On Tuesday, Kate Middleton visited London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, the cancer center where she received treatment after her own diagnosis with the illness last year. Before the princess arrived to speak with patients undergoing their treatment in the public ward, she announced that she was joining husband Prince William as a co-patron of the center. According to Angela Terry, one of the patients that Kate spoke to on Tuesday, her visit brought hope to patients still undergoing treatment.
“She was there to say thank you to the people who had looked after her, [and] talk to patients who were in a similar situation,” Terry told People. “It was a great message of hope because she looked so well. We don’t need to know what cancer she had. We just know she’s been through surgery, she’s been through chemo—and one year later, my goodness, look, she is here.”
Terry is the non-executive chair of EGFR Positive UK, a charity which provides support and raises awareness for lung cancers caused by an EGFR gene mutation, and she said is living with an “incurable but treatable” form of the disease herself. She told People that she was impressed by the attention that Kate gave to those she spoke to.
“She has such poise and elegance, extremely genuine and sincere. She is very personable. I watched her talking to other patients and she’s amazing,” Terry said. “She has this gentle eye contact as she talks, she reaches out and maybe touches their shoulder or holds their hand and her smile is always there. The level of connection she makes with each and every person she meets is phenomenal.”
After the visit, the princess took to Instagram and announced that her illness was in remission, something that she had not previously shared. Terry said that Kate didn’t mention her remission during the visit. “It might have been difficult if she had come in talking about her experience about being in remission first because some people who are really very ill might never get to remission and that would have felt tricky,” Terry said. “But she chose to do that after she had left, which speaks volumes.”
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