Living life out loud

One Man’s Story of Hope in all Circumstances

In early 2003, a 16-year-old Lincolnshire lad was taken ill. Not for a moment thinking it was anything too serious, his mum decided to take him to the doctor. Some weeks later the diagnosis was confirmed: Dave Bell had a very rare and aggressive cancer attacking the back of his right eye. So rare that only three people in a million are likely to contract it.

The news was a terrible shock. But, as Dave soon started to understand, sickness or struggle doesn’t ask for a polite invitation into your life. It just shows up one day, sometimes with devastating effects. “At first my life was rocked,” he says. “I was 16, and like most 16-year-old boys I thought I was invincible, but suddenly I was confronted with the biggest battle of my life.” Now, ‘Life Out Loud’, the song of that battle and his story of hope through faith has been picked up by a major US marketing company and will be released in April, with the aim of inspiring hope in every ...