There was so much more to Hannah than her illness. This page is for getting to know who she really was — the things she loved, the things she created, and the legacy she has left behind.
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch Hannah’s Story.
If you have watched the film, you will have seen something of the extraordinary journey Hannah and I shared. But there was so much more to Hannah than her illness.
She was an incredible friend. An amazing daughter. The most beautiful wife.
And she was my soulmate.
She was funny, creative, determined, thoughtful and incredibly caring. She loved people, she loved making things, and she had an extraordinary ability to just get on with life, whatever life put in front of her.
I wanted to create this page because I would love you to get to know a little more about who Hannah really was — the things she loved, the things she created and the legacy she has left behind.
Before Hannah was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011, she smoked, enjoyed a drink and, by her own admission, didn’t always have the healthiest diet.
After her diagnosis, something changed.
Following her surgery and the years of treatment that followed, Hannah began to reinvent herself. She became much more interested in what she ate, how she lived and what she could do to take care of herself.
I talked to her about eating differently and introduced her to a wonderful lady who taught her how to cook. I will always remember Hannah saying before that first lesson:
“She’ll never get me to enjoy cooking.”
Hannah — before her first lesson
How wrong she was. Hannah didn’t just learn to cook. She fell in love with it.
Eventually, she became so passionate about creating healthy food that she wrote her own cookbook — The Team Hannah Cookbook. It contains recipes inspired by the ketogenic, low-sugar way of eating Hannah chose to follow during that period of her life.
And I would love to share it with you.
The Team Hannah Cookbook
Recipes inspired by the ketogenic, low-sugar way of eating Hannah followed. Perhaps make one of Hannah’s recipes — I think she would have loved knowing that people were still enjoying the food she created.
Cooking wasn’t Hannah’s only creative passion. She had always enjoyed sewing, and in 2018 she decided to turn that passion into something more. She created a business called The Bespoke Quilter.
She made the most beautiful bespoke quilts, often from clothes and fabrics carrying enormous emotional significance for the people who commissioned them.
Her work became increasingly recognised within the quilting community, and Hannah was eventually interviewed by John Scott, a well-known figure in the world of sewing, quilting and fashion. Seeing her talk about something she had created and become so passionate about still makes me incredibly proud.
In 2019, Hannah and I began supporting a project in Uganda that cares for 101 children. This became incredibly important to both of us.
Over the years, Hannah developed a very special connection with the project, the children and the team in Uganda. Even though they lived thousands of miles away, they became part of our lives — and we became part of theirs.
A few months after Hannah passed away in 2023, I travelled to Uganda. It was an incredibly emotional trip. I was still in the very early stages of grief, but being there and seeing the children, spending time with the people Hannah and I had supported together, reminded me that something we had started together was still making a difference.
To learn more about this project in Uganda please visit https://www.godinactionuganda.com/
Mandela, who runs the organisation and has become a very dear friend, had his second child. He named his daughter Hannah.
In August 2026, I returned to Uganda to continue the work that Hannah and I had begun together — but this visit had an extra-special meaning. For the first time, I was going to meet little Hannah.
And I was able to take something very precious with me: one of the beautiful quilts made by my Hannah, which I gave to little Hannah as a gift.
A quilt made with love by Hannah, now thousands of miles away in Uganda, belonging to a little girl who carries her name.
Legacy isn’t simply about being remembered.
Legacy is what continues
because you were here.
01
The people you touched.
02
The love you gave.
03
The things you created.
04
The difference you made.
Hannah may no longer be physically here, but her influence continues to travel much further than she could ever have imagined. And our work in Uganda will always be part of Hannah’s legacy.
Hannah’s legacy isn’t simply what she made. It’s what she changed.
For much of my life, I had been ridiculously busy. Always doing. Always moving. Always thinking about what was next. If I’m truthful, I think part of me was frightened to stop.
I spent much of my life helping other people change their lives, while often failing to recognise some of the things I needed to change in my own.
If I could go back in time, there are things I would do differently.
— I would slow down.
— I would be more present.
— I would worry less about things that ultimately didn’t matter.
— I would appreciate even more deeply the ordinary moments Hannah and I had together.
Because I’ve come to realise that the ordinary moments are often the extraordinary ones — we just don’t always recognise them while they’re happening.
Losing Hannah was the most painful experience of my life. But grief did something I hadn’t expected. It forced me to stop.
And when I stopped, I began to think. Not simply about losing Hannah, but about how I had been living my life.
What was I rushing towards?
What was I frightened of?
Why did I find it so difficult to stop?
Who had I become?
And who did I want to become now?
Those questions have changed the direction of my life. They have become the foundation of something I now call STOP 2 THINK.
Not about doing nothing
01
Creating enough space between what happens to us and what we do next.
02
Noticing rather than immediately reacting. Being curious rather than assuming.
03
Appreciating what our thoughts and feelings might be trying to show us.
It’s about becoming more aware of the relationship we have with ourselves, with other people and with whatever life is asking us to face.
For me, it began with grief. But I’ve come to realise that we shouldn’t have to experience a tragedy before we give ourselves permission to stop.
Sometimes life whispers to us. Sometimes it nudges us. And sometimes it brings us to a complete standstill.
“Hannah taught me that life is happening now.”
Not when everything is sorted · Not when we’re less busy · Not when we’ve achieved the next thing
Now.
That, more than anything, is the legacy she has left in me.
And if watching Hannah’s Story causes you to stop for just a moment and think about your own life — who you love, what matters, what you might want to change and what you already have to be grateful for — then Hannah’s impact continues. And I think she would be incredibly proud of that.