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Undiagnosed VIPoma in 2018.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 April 2022 source ↗
The question
How close have you come to dying?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.
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Others on this question
View all 209 →I had some gynaecological issues that were very sudden, about 18 months ago, and felt that I might be dying. I wasn’t but it was quite serious.
A blood clot in my artery when I was 23.
A piece of scenery fell on my head during Richard II at the Globe theatre in 2019. I was very badly hurt.
Meera Syal
British writer and actress
On a school trip to Wales when I was 12. My canoe capsized and got stuck upside down next to a rock. I was underwater for about 30 seconds but it felt a lot longer.
More from Olivia Williams
View profile →An electric car.
People are often traumatised by the sleeplessness in the first years of their children’s lives, but I was insanely happy to be married and have two children. The only dark cloud was how much we were loathed for having babies who slept through the night.
In rehearsals. The play is very funny about mothers and daughters, but one of the gags hit a raw nerve.
All the things I ought to have done.
My mother says I had a plan to be a farmer’s wife and a violinist, going to concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in my tractor.
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