Eljay Dickens My Octopus Hat at Lauderdale house, Highgate

Diagnosed with a stage 4 malignant gioblastoma in 2019, she was given 2-5 months to live.

But nearly four years on, she has beaten the disease into retreat.

"They told me the tumour had tentacles that grow around part of your brain, and it struck me it was like an octopus," says the 73-year-old, who is convinced her survival was mind over matter.

"The doctors said I had months to live, but I ignored them. I never looked it up on the internet, and didn't ask questions because if I knew what was getting me it would be a problem. Best to be totally oblibious and think 'I am going to live forever.' And here I am four years on."Waiting for a bus in North West London (Image: Eljay Dickens)

While undergoing a gruelling year of radiotherapy and chemotherapy which left her with memory and weightloss, she was spurred on to start painting and print-making, creating a body of life-affirming work which she exhibits at Lauderdale House in Highgate.

"I have always drawn and I worked as a graphic designer in publishing and on animated cartoons, but I only started painting after my diagnosis," says Eljay who paints in a shed in her Muswell Hill garden.

"It spurred me on to try different things creatively. I thought 'bugger it, give it a go, I may be gone in a few months'. So I spent all my money on canvases and became completely besotted with different art techniques."

Eljay's symptoms began with seizures where she would find herself slumped outside the bathroom, or down the side of the bed.

"I would be in a strange position not knowing how I had got there, I just put it down to overwork."

When husband Phil, whom she calls "my mainstay" found her sitting at the table with an overturned cup of tea, he took her straight to the doctor.

"I was comatose, I didn't know where or who I was. He held up a cauliflower and asked what it was. By the end I was crying because I couldn't remember the names of my kids."Muswell Hill artist Eljay Dickens (Image: Courtesy of Eljay Dickens)

After the initial shock of diagnosis, the mum-of two felt calm. 

"I've always been robust and it was a bit weird to be ill. It was like sitting on top of a giant telegraph pole looking at everyone else running around and I didn't feel frightened.

"I had the most amazing treatment at UCH, but watching the people I had got to know in the waiting room as they all dropped off, including people younger than me, I felt terribly guilty. It didn't seem fair."

The illness also stimulated her creativity and gave her a heightened awareness of her surroundings.

"I notice things so much more, I hone in on an object or shape, it's as though you are savouring the light, and everything you used to take for granted."Fishes in a market in South West Turkey (Image: Eljay Dickens)

Artworks in the exhibition include a dog she spotted asleep on a King's Cross barge, an imaginary bus queue in north west London, and a fishmarket near her second home in South West Turkey where she and Phil used to run painting holidays. Their sense of fun, and love of colour stand as testimony to her survival against the odds.

When doctors confirmed that treatment had shut the tumour down, their advice was to “get on with life”.

"They were absolutely amazed, they were laughing and said 'whatever you are doing carry on," said Eljay, who has also written a book, A Painter’s Palate which describes her life as an Englishwoman in Turkey; the people she met and the food she cooked.Barge Dog, King's Cross (Image: Eljay Dickens)

Including 180 recipes, from mezze to dessert, it reflects her view that painting and cooking are the two best ways to enjoy life.

"I have learned so much and I’ve not finished learning yet. Before the diagnosis I had plans for my 90s, I have still got lots of plans."

A Painter’s Palate: Tastes and Tales from a Turkish Art House is out on March 9 price £14.99 Two Click Press. My Octopus Hat is at Lauderdale House, Highgate, March 1-28. https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/my-octopus-hat