Two days ago, a great light in our world was extinguished when Mike Peters breathed his last.
Mike was a musician best known for founding The Alarm, a Welsh band he started in 1981 that went on to fame, playing with the likes of Bob Dylan and U2.
While his music was great, it was the Mike off-stage that caught my attention. Mike was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995, but he not only never let the disease slow him down, but he allowed it to grow a passion in him to reach out and help others.
In 2005, after a new diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Mike teamed up with his wife, Jules, and friend (and fellow cancer survivor) James Chippendale, to start the Love Hope Strength Foundation; Jules describes the LHS mission on their website:
James, Mike and I were talking about our vision for the world, and for families affected by cancer back in 2006. Within minutes we decided we needed a simple plan with an ambitious aim. We wanted to help spread love, hope and strength because that’s what had got us through our own experiences of dealing with a cancer diagnosis. We were ambitious and were determined to actually save lives.
A year later, I was contacted by LHS to photograph their first major initiative: an ambitious trek to Everest Basecamp to perform the world’s highest concert atop Kala Pattar, 18,519 feet. But, more than a concert or a stunt, the team would aim to raise critical funds for the Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital in the Kathmandu Valley.
I was sold on the mission immediately and was soon trekking through the Khumbu Valley with an eccentric, wonderful mix of cancer survivors and supporters, and a who’s who of 1980s music: Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, Cy Curnin and Jamie West-Oram of The Fixx, Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats, and others like singer/songwriter Nick Harper.
Over the course of a couple weeks, we had impromptu concerts on the side of the trail, myriad moments of laughter and tears, cross-cultural connections through the shared language of cancer, and of course a record-setting concert atop Kala Pattar. And, most critically, the team raised an amazing $500,000 in support of the Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, critical funds that would, and have, changed lives.
Back in Kathmandu, thanks to Mike’s charm and passion, local musicians I knew offered to help stage a benefit concert in the city. What we all assumed would be a small affair was anything but: energized by Mike’s mission, and excited to drive it forward, the locals put together a massive bandstand in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. An estimated 10,000 people turned out that night to listen to local and foreign musicians sing solo and together, blasting across the eons Mike’s message of love, hope, and strength, and his determination to help others, everywhere, beat cancer.
Love. Hope. Strength.
So simple, so profound, so important, and so often missing in our world today. But never lacking whenever Mike was around, for he lived and breathed those words, his personal and professional mission, day in and out.
And, through his music and everlasting light, Mike's vision of love, hope, and strength will live on.
Thank you, Mike, may you rest easy knowing you did so much, fought so hard, and inspired so many.
Give me love
Give me love hope and strength
Give me love hope and strength to carry on
Through the white washed corridors and the U.V. Lights
Past deserted dreams to the end of night
Past the click click click click click of the killing machines
Until you put your hand again in mine
Give me love
Give me love hope and strength
Give me love hope and strength to carry on
Sometimes when I don’t understand
When I don’t know why, When I don’t know what for
You come to me with reassurance
With your guiding light, with your hand in mine
Give me love
Give me love hope and strength
Give me love hope and strength to carry on
