Video: 'I have felt afraid' says Bishop of Swindon after cancer diagnosis The Rt Revd Dr Lee Rayfield, was an immunologist before entering the Church of England. Now 58 years old and serving as the Bishop of Swindon, he is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma, a form of cancer. I've felt afraid. I have felt afraid. And no doubt I'll feel afraid again," he says. Receiving chemotherapy severely weakens the immune system, so catching an infection that would pose little or no risk to a healthy adult could be fatal for the Bishop. I think I'd probably be afraid if I pick up a nasty infection and I'm taken off to the intensive care unit. Because...people die. The situation faced by the Bishop reached a wider audience last month after wrote a letter to the BBC radio presenter Simon Mayo and film critic Mark Kermode, thanking them for a film review he heard which encouraged him to go and see the new movie Rush, about the battle between racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Despite the infection risks posed by public places like cinemas, the Bishop took his daughter to see the film. An emotional Mayo then read out the Bishop's thank you letter live on air. It was a blast. I got some insights from the film which I found quite helpful. I came away feeling really blessed by the fact that I'd seen the film, and I just wanted to bless them, I wanted to thank them," he says.