THE death of Ivan Noble from a brain tumour at the age of 37 may mean little to many, but his brave fight and ultimate defeat at the hands of cancer has drawn a wave of condolence from around the world.

From the moment that his condition was first diagnosed in September 2002, Noble, a science and technology writer for BBC News, bared his innermost soul in a weekly internet diary posted on the Corporation’s news website.

Hundreds responded, sharing their own experiences and drawing strength from his courageous chronicle of fear and hope, in which he matched his own decline with the joy of his marriage and of watching a baby daughter sprout her first teeth. When Noble’s death was announced on the website yesterday, one reader responded with the message that he had had “a most apt name”.

People who publish their diaries on the internet, often for reasons of mere self-regard, are known as bloggers. Noble, according to one respondent yesterday, was known as “a brave man who never gave in to the fear of what was happening — a true professional journalist who gave the world a valuable series of writings that help us to do the same.” Noble’s first diary, posted on September 12, 2002, began: “My life and that of my family has just been turned upside down.”

He told how doctors had diagnosed a brain tumour. “Reading between the lines I understand it is something that an older man would have little chance of beating. With youth, determination and a lot of support on my side, I intend to be luckier.” He related how he was at first paralysed by fear, and how eventually he regained his nerve.

His health and his spirits seemed to have improved after radiotherapy and chemotherapy and he took his family to Germany. He appeared to be in remission, until, on November 6, 2003, his diary began: “I hoped so much that I would have no cause to write this diary again. . . but that is not the way things turned out.”

He required surgery to deal with what he described as “a watery mess” that had developed around his tumour. He focused his mind on being out of hospital for his first wedding anniversary. He survived for another year and more, enjoying his wife and children. But by Sunday of this week he knew that he had lost the fight and posted his last diary, which he had written in advance knowing that the end was near. He was already dying in a London hospice. “What I wanted to do with this column was to try to prove that it was possible to survive and beat cancer and not to be crushed. Even though I have to take my leave now, I feel I managed it. I have not been defeated.”

Noble used his column to give warning against the dangers of tobacco and said that if even one person had given up smoking as a result of his diary, it would have been worthwhile.

He concluded: “The regular feedback from dozens and dozens of people every time I have written has been wonderful, especially in real times of crisis. I know that it has kept me going much longer than I would have without it, and I am grateful.” Ivan Noble leaves a widow, a son, a daughter and many admirers he never met, quite a few of whom swore they gave up cigarettes as a result of reading his front-line account of a great personal battle.

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