Tutu: No foot in the grave yet
2005-04-20 18:10
Cape Town - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, faced with the possibility of a new round of cancer treatment, gave an assurance on Wednesday that he has no intention of going to meet his maker just yet.
Tutu said: "I'm not yet with one foot in the grave, I don't think. I'd like to be around for 2010 soccer World Cup."
Tutu, 73, who was treated for prostate cancer in 1997, said on Tuesday that a recent prostate-specific antigen test indicated a possible recurrence.
He said his doctors would monitor his condition and decide possibly in three months whether he should start a new round of treatment.
Tutu 'wouldn't know that he is ill'
However, he was feeling well.
He said with a laugh: "If they hadn't told me I was ill, I wouldn't know that I was ill."
"But... I think it is a good thing because it concentrates the mind very much, and makes you aware obviously of your mortality, but also how much you tend to take things for granted.
"So, you take it for granted that your wife loves you, that your grandchildren will always be laughing around you, and so there is a particular poignancy."
Tutu had led an active life since retiring as head of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa in 1996.
He headed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and had taught in the United States.
- SAPA