Health Versus Wealth With Dr Ben

Steve Spriggs and his son, Ben, 21, bring a fresh perspective to the ‘Health Versus Wealth’ discussion as they recount their remarkable family story of how Ben, a couple of weeks before his 16th birthday, fell ill and was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma (BL), a rare and fast-growing type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), namely blood cancer.

At first their GP thought Ben just had “a bacterial infection”, but after a trip to A&E, and after Ben’s blood sample was sent to Germany for checking, his diagnosis was confirmed. Dad Steve, from Coventry, a teacher for 13 years, wife Jenny, a teaching assistant, and their 2 other kids suffered a huge strain. Recently, Ben celebrated 5 years in remission. What’s Steve’s message to listeners who pursue wealth and neglect their health? He replies: “I’d say to them there are more important things in life than work, like family and your own health. Business and work can be enjoyable and it’s nice to have more money. Everybody would like more money to have the freedom to go and do more, and better things. But at end of the day the value of that is miniscule compared to the health of the people you love and sharing time in their company.”