Doctors Gave My Wife 18 Months… We Got 12 Extra Years | Pete Cohen
July 23, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readWhen Love Becomes a Practice: Pete Cohen on Caring, Grief, and Learning to Stop
Pete Cohen left school at 16 with one GCSE and a diagnosis of learning difficulties that convinced him something was wrong with him. He spent decades trying to prove himself through achievement, until a brain tumour diagnosis for his partner Hannah forced him into something far more difficult: learning to be present. "I wish I'd been more present with her," he says. "I wish I'd been more present with my mum and dad. I've always been frightened of death." The conversation with Davina McCall traces how a man who built a career on productivity and self-improvement discovered that the real work was learning to stop.
The Mechanism of Caregiving Through Crisis
When Hannah was given 18 months to live after a grand mal seizure revealed a brain tumour, Cohen's first instinct was not to stay—it was to find someone who could fix it. He called his coach, a doctor who gave him two pieces of advice that shaped everything that followed. First: "Find people that are still alive with the same brain tumour and find out why." Second: "Ask her what she's gonna do when she gets better."
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What you'll learn
- 1 Timestamped Outline
- 2 (00:30) **Diagnosis and the Moment Everything Changed** - Pete's girlfriend Hannah has a grand mal seizure and is diagnosed with a brain tumour, given 18 months to live
- 3 (04:45) **Pete's Early Life and the Drive to Prove Himself** - Leaving school with one GCSE and a learning disability diagnosis, then building a career against all odds
- 4 (07:23) **Creating a Weight Loss Program and Getting Noticed** - Pete's early success came from understanding the psychology behind behaviour change
- 5 (08:15) **Meeting Hannah: Fate at Heathrow** - A chance encounter in Ted Baker, an ash cloud, and a forced stop that brought them together
- 6 (10:16) **The Seizure and the Diagnosis** - One year into the relationship, everything stopped
- 7 (12:14) **The Coach's Life-Changing Advice** - How one phone call in a hospital car park shifted the entire approach
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
She was given just 18 months to live. They got 12 more years together.
In this episode of Begin Again, motivational speaker and bestselling author Pete Cohen joins Davina to share the extraordinary love story that changed his life forever.
Pete opens up about meeting his wife Hannah by chance, falling in love as she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour, and why leaving was never an option. Together, they faced impossible decisions, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for life-saving treatment, and defied every expectation to build another twelve years together.
But this conversation is about much more.
Pete reflects on the regrets that still stay with him, why he wishes he'd been more present with Hannah, and how grief transformed the way he thinks about love, fear and what really matters. He shares how watching Hannah embrace life in the face of death changed him forever, and why her legacy continues to shape the way he lives today.
Davina and Pete also explore the fear of losing the people we love, what it means to truly show up for someone in their darkest moments, and how grief can become a reminder to live more intentionally rather than something we simply survive.
This is a conversation about love, loss, resilience and the extraordinary impact one person can have on your life, even after they're gone.
If you've ever loved someone deeply, lost someone you couldn't imagine living without, or wondered how to carry on after heartbreak, this episode is for you.
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✨ Watch Pete's award-winning documentary, Team Hannah, and learn more about Hannah's extraordinary story: https://www.teamhannah.com/
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(00:00) INTRO (01:14) Pete Cohen and Team Hannah (01:53) Growing Up With Learning Difficulties (03:12) Struggling at School (04:17) Becoming a Fitness Coach (05:12) How Pete’s Parents Shaped Him (07:32) How Pete Met Hannah (09:45) Hannah’s Brain Tumour Diagnosis (12:31) Chronic Fatigue and Finding a Mentor (14:32) Raising Money for Cancer Treatment (16:14) Falling in Love Through Cancer (17:05) Experimental Cancer Treatment in America (19:48) Ancient & Brave Ad (20:50) Do Health Ad (22:00) Why Pete Filmed Hannah’s Journey (24:14) Grief and Celebrating Through Suffering (2
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