As we mourn the passing of Steve Legg, the widely respected Christian speaker, comedian, writer, evangelist and magician, Premier Unbelievable remembers him through this moving conversation about suffering, death, faith and hope following his diagnosis of terminal cancer. How can a man in his position describe it as a “win win situation”? What’s helpful to someone facing death – and what’s not? And why does he feel gratitude, hope and joy?
“God has been saying to me through these last two and a half years, three things: ‘I love you, I’m with you, and try not to be scared’. And that’s the hope that I’m clinging on to.”
These powerful words from Steve are ever more meaningful as we remember his extraordinary life and mourn his death. They are from a conversation in September 2023 with Premier Unbelievable host Andy Kind, and his fellow cancer fighter, Baptist minister and former Britain’s got Talent contestant Allan Finnegan, who is currently fundraising for cancer treatment not available on the NHS. Steve talked about the painful news he received in April that year of having five months to live, after battling the spread of a rare kind of skin cancer since 2021, enduring multiple operations and treatments.
Steve had a strong faith ever since he came to Christ at the age of twelve through the Boy’s Brigade ministry, although his family were not believers. He worked hard to share his gift of faith with others all over the world through evangelism via media, comedy and escapology. In 2018 he celebrated travelling over one million miles for this mission during his lifetime.
“I discovered something at this Boy’s Brigade camp, this good news, this Good News of Jesus. And I thought, I’m going to keep telling people ‘til the day I die. I hope I can do that, just to keep cracking on, choosing joy and getting on with stuff.”
Asking ‘why’
One of the most common questions about God’s existence is why he allows suffering, but Steve says the expected questions like this didn’t arise. “I’ve never asked the question, ‘why?’” he said. “It’s ‘why not?’”
However he did not ignore the realities he faced. Host Andy commented on the lack of denial in both speakers. Steve did not sugar coat the pain of his diagnosis and the experience of being given a terminal diagnosis: “I heard the news on the Monday,” he explained. “I was aware I had four comedy gigs that week on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I didn’t stop crying until Thursday morning.”
Read more:
Where is God to be found when you are told your cancer is terminal?
Steve Legg (1967-2024)
Positivity and gratitude
But that Thursday, he decided: “I need to do these gigs. And I decided to choose joy and laughter and to be positive and upbeat. And if I did have five months, which works out at 22 weeks, which also works out [at] 150 days, I wanted to make every flipping day count, and that’s what I’ve tried to do ever since I had that news.”
Throughout the conversation about his difficult operations and trials, he maintains his sense of humour and positivity. “I often say to people, it’s too good an opportunity not to make something good come out of this,” he said. “If this is just a sad story, then it’s a wasted opportunity. What amazing things can happen out of this situation. That’s how I look at it.
“And I’m sharing my story. God has given me all sorts of platforms that I’ve never thought I would have. I’ve written a book [The Last Laugh: Reflections of a funnyman with terminal cancer] that has gone incredibly well. I mean, just all the beauty that you can see in these situations is phenomenal.”
This point – and his passion for sharing his faith – is demonstrated in the story he gives for illustration. He was contacted by someone working on his book cover in Thailand via Facebook. The worker had given a copy of his book to his nan who has leukaemia, and she found it “transformational” and “inspirational”. “I would have never, never be able to reach a little old lady in Thailand with with the gospel and a message of hope, if this hadn’t happened to me,” he said.
As many people who go through cancer discover, it can give a new sense of what is important in life and the goodness that is all around us every day. “I thank God that I can walk to the toilet,” he said. “I thank God I’ve got a toilet. I thank God that my legs are working. I’m so grateful to have this amazing life sentence, to reprioritise what’s important, what isn’t important, who’s important, who isn’t important?”
Steve made a vow to appreciate the time he had left. A woman at a hospice inspired him with the words: “You can either live dying, or die living.”
“I’ve noticed all sorts of things that I’ve never noticed before, birds singing,” said Steve. “I know birds sing all the time, but I notice them a lot more these days… just walking along the ocean on a lovely, sunny day, you just think, ‘isn’t this beautiful, isn’t it wonderful to be alive.”
While he held out hope for healing – and he did live longer than the time he was given by the doctors – he also had the hope of heaven. “Whatever happens… if I beat this, man, what a story that is to tell,” he said. “But if I go and die and go to be with Jesus, which is, I guess, the hope of the gospel, which is the good news… I’ve won as well. I’m in a win win situation. I’m a man of very simple faith.”
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Supporting cancer fighters
Steve offered suggestions to listeners for what is helpful – and not helpful - in supporting a person who has cancer, such as asking persistent probing questions, or talking of people who have died of the disease. “I mean, why are you telling me this, this is not helping!” he said. Instead, he says, it’s best to ask: “What do you need from me?”
Andy expressed his admiration of Steve on the news of his death: “He was relentlessly positive and a man of such constant faithfulness and faithful constancy, and I really admire that about him. He ran the race and he finished well, and that’s something to really hold up. His entrepreneurial spirit was unmatched within the Christian world.”
Above all, Steve describes a life well lived: “I’ve got no regrets. I’ve written books, I’ve travelled to 30 countries. I can’t look back in life and think, ‘Oh, I wish I’d done that’, because I’ve done it. And I just say to people, ‘why don’t you live as if you’ve only got five months to live? You know, 22 weeks, 150 days?’ It’s a powerful way to live your lives.”
Read more from Steve in his conversation with friend and church pastor Carl Beech in 2023, and the latter’s moving tribute following his death.
Heather Tomlinson is a freelance journalist. You can find more of her writing on https://heathertomlinson.substack.com/ or on X (Twitter) @HeatherTomli
