Mik Scarlet given five years to live as a child celebrates his 60th birthday in style
TV presenter lost ability to walk as a teenager after his spine collapsed
Monday, 1st September — By Caitlin Maskell
Friends of the disabilities campaigner Mik Scarlet toast his big 6-0!
REACHING 60 is a milestone that once felt out of reach for former TV presenter and disability rights campaigner Mik Scarlet, who is marking his birthday as a chance to look back after being given no more than five years to live as a child.
“I’ve had the kind of life that most non-disabled people can only dream of, and that all happened because I was the baby that was born with cancer,” said Mik, who celebrated his birthday earlier this month.
When Mr Scarlet was born in 1965 in Luton it was quickly discovered that he had a rare type of cancer called adrenal neuroblastoma.
After a terminal diagnosis, Mr Scarlet’s parents Michael and Joyce gave permission for the baby to undergo experimental treatment.
Remarkably, following major surgery and chemotherapy, Mr Scarlet survived.
Taking a petition to the doors of Downing Street
“They said if I was really lucky I might get five years,” said Mr Scarlet, adding: “I was days at the most from death. So they went in and did the surgery and the chemotherapy and from then on it was a case of maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow.”
Aged 15, Mr Scarlet was rushed back into hospital on the day of his first O-level exam.
He was told once again that he may not make it as his spine had collapsed crushing the nerves in his back.
From then on he was a wheelchair user.
He said: “When your disability changes that dramatically at that age it seems like the end of the world, but in a way it was good because I hadn’t done anything yet.
“I was a massive fan of Gary Numan and I remember so distinctly being ill in hospital and him calling me up. The nurse came in and said ‘Mik, it’s Gary Numan on the phone for you.’ It was completely bizarre. Doctors told me I wasn’t going to make it and I thought of all the things I’d never do. So when I came out of hospital I thought, ‘Let’s go and do them’, and I did.”
Mr Scarlet went on to meet his idol, touring with Numan as his supporting act all while filming his children’s TV show Beat That.
“When I got the role on Beat That I was pulled into an office – I was all leather-clad Billy Idol lookalike and they told me they wanted me to front a children’s TV programme,” he said.
“I thought they must have got the wrong person as only the night before I was presenting an item on the telly about dildos.”
Sizing up the changes to Camden High Street earlier this year
Beat That was a 1990s children’s TV gameshow where kids took on wacky challenges to outdo each other winning points and prizes.
Mr Scarlet said: “When I started doing it I realised how important it was because we got disabled and non-disabled kids together that didn’t really know each other. Watching the kids blossom was just so sweet. Friendships were formed and you realise that actually this idea of separating disabled and non-disabled kids is rubbish.”
Mr Scarlet has spent his life campaigning for the rights of disabled people – he is the co-CEO of PHAB, a charity which brings together disabled and non-disabled people through clubs and activities.
He said: “It’s a very easy trope to think there are loads of disabled people claiming loads of money who could really be out working. I’ve spent my whole life, including doing telly and music, trying to prove that disabled people can work, but now I work trying to explain to businesses what that means and what they have to do to facilitate that.”
Mr Scarlet celebrated the milestone with a bash in Primrose Hill last week with his wife Diane, family and friends.
