‘I can’t die now’: Alan Joyce’s cancer battle

In May 2011, Alan Joyce was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In this excerpt from his book Alan Joyce & Qantas: The Trials and Transformation of an Australian Icon, aviation veteran Peter Harbison reveals what the former CEO learned from his brush with ‘the big C’

Few experiences focus the mind like cancer. We all have a vague awareness that we are going to die, but the prospect of death is not usually something that interrupts our daily behaviour. Receiving a diagnosis of ‘the big C’ brings a sudden, shocking reminder of the reality of mortality. Anyone who’s been given that news will have the memory of that moment engraved on their mind for life.

At the age of forty-four, with his corporate agenda filled with professional challenges, cancer simply wasn’t on Alan Joyce’s horizon. So in May 2011, less than three years into one of the most demanding baptisms of fire any airline CEO could have in the wake of the global financial crisis, Joyce felt like he had been hit by a train when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Qantas board had decided to send the company’s top 100 executives for routine medical check-ups. And they were indeed routine for all except the CEO. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australia. For men of Joyce’s age, although he was otherwise found to be in good health, it’s a killer unless caught in time.