JIMMY LOGAN'S CANCER VIDEO

Comic wants to help fellow sufferers beat their fears

CANCER-STRICKEN comic Jimmy Logan has made a video to help sufferers come to terms with the disease. In the tape, entitled You Are Not Alone, theatre great Jimmy, 73, says:  "You have just been told you have cancer and I know how you feel because I  was told this too." The screen and stage legend, who is undergoing chemotherapy for inoperable  cancer in his chest and liver, wants to help people who are told they have  the illness.

However, when he asked Scots health bosses to distribute his video when it was completed, they turned down his offer.  The snub by the Scottish Executive cancer committee has disappointed Jimmy,  who received an OBE for his services to entertainment in 1996. He said: "When people are first told they have cancer, the first thing they  think is, 'How long have I got?' This is wrong and I want to change this. I have a rough layout of a video.  I take people by the hand and explain the whole thing to them. I go with  them into a hospital and say, 'Look at that, there's nothing to be worried about.' It will show them examples of success and take away this Victorian fear  that pervades this illness."

Last night, Jimmy, of Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, said he bears no ill will toward the Scottish Executive. He explained: "Nobody invited me to make this video. I went through to Edinburgh to meet the Department of Health and asked them to see if they  would distribute it for me.  I told them that I would try and get it done if they would distribute it.  However, I just got word yesterday that the cancer committee, whoever they  are, said it would be better if I do this on my own.  I sent through the rough tape but they haven't even looked at it because they are so busy. They said, 'We feel we have enough on our plate and that it would be disturbing,' and a load of bloody rubbish. They haven't considered what I  am trying to do.  I've got more leaflets here about cancer than Thomas Cook has about going  abroad. What good is that? People need it explained to them."

The comic legend, who undergoes the chemotherapy sessions at the HCI  hospital in Clydebank twice a week, plans to go ahead with the project and  meet the £5000 cost himself. He said there would be a nominal charge for the video, which was endorsed by a leading cancer charity last night after the Record stepped in.  Professor Gordon McVie, a Scot who is director general of the London-based Cancer Research Campaign, said: "We would love to see the video and we  would definitely support Jimmy Logan's approach. It's a very nice idea.  We would want to see a rough cut of the video because we definitely want to be involved. It's a helpful gesture.  The last thing some people want to do when they have been told they have cancer, is to read about it. We've been experimenting with tapes and CDs  and the feedback is encouraging  to be involved. It's a helpful gesture.  The last thing some people want to do when they have been told they have cancer, is to read about it. We've been experimenting with tapes and CDs and the feedback is encouraging."