I'm just grateful to be alive this Christmas, says inspirational Steve Evans

He was diagnosed with stomach cancer two years ago and there is no way to cure him.

And yet his attitude towards it is nothing short of inspirational.

He has reached out to the world via the internet and found that he is far from alone.

The former Wolverhampton City Council building surveyor has won an army of followers – more than 24,000 people – on Twitter and has been a guest on Richard Bacon's Radio Five Live show and the BBC's flagship Breakfast programme.

As well as his day job with the council Steve is a magician, a member of the Magic Circle, and a comedian, acting as compere at the Civic Halls and helping to look after some of the big name stars that have performed there.

When the Express & Star first interviewed him about his illness, the 52-year-old's wit and sense of humour shone through.

"It might seem odd to be proud of a cancer," he said a year ago. "But I grew it, it's mine."

Steve is grateful just to be able to spend Christmas with his wife of 28 years, Septina, and their daughters Megan, 25, and Lauren, 20, at home in Old Fallings Lane.

"I'm more than a bit chuffed about it," he says.

"It's a new experience now. I don't have any goals. My day consists of waking up, trying to feel strong. Then in the evening I'll take my medication and my family can enjoy me being a bit drowsy.

"I'm very lucky to have Septina and our daughters."

'Lucky' is not the first word that springs to mind, given what Steve is going through. But he doesn't get angry about it.

"Not that anyone would ever see anyway," he says. "If I went off it would hurt and upset the people closest to me. And it would use a lot of kinetic energy. The breathing would go and I'd have to be put on oxygen. There's no point going through that for the nonsense of being angry, not when it's a matter of life or death."

He thanks his city council career for training him to be able to deal with angry customers.

Now he applies it if anything goes wrong with his care.

"You get a man in agony, trying to explain things to a woman who is in no pain other than being angry at the person who has just cocked it up," he says.

And his big wish is for people to just enjoy Christmas without getting annoyed.

"Christmas is a time when people get really wound up," he says. "They fight in the shops and worry about whether or not they will be able to get an X Box One or a PlayStation 4, fearing that if they don't then their world will fall apart.

"My kids just want their dad. They want to sit with me and give me toys because they know I'm just a big child myself.

"If anyone really wants to help me at a time like this, then they just must not worry about nonsense, particularly when I'm in an environment where I'm fluffy and happy.

"I don't want anyone shouting because they forgot to put the cabbage on to boil."

Steve performed and gave a lecture for fellow magicians in Buxton in September.

Completing that goal was the target he set himself in April. He has continued to help at the Civic Halls whenever he can, working as a concierge and supporting disabled visitors.

He barely uses the word 'dying' while talking, preferring instead to refer to his experiences as a 'journey'.

"I'm crying a lot now," he admits.

"If I get upset it just builds up and sometimes it just happens. The other reason is that I know I'm dying.

"It doesn't have to be more than that.

"I have an arrangement with Septina, Megan and Lauren.

"I cry and they hold me and some point after they have been holding me for a few minutes I stop and things are better."

But his sense of humour is still as strong as ever. Although as a connoisseur of comedy, Steve will be tough judge to win over when it comes to the jokes in the Christmas crackers. He loves an old joke that, years ago, he says would have been seen as a piece of genuine advice.

"A man goes to his wife and says he's going to the pub and for her to put her coat on. She says 'why, am I coming with you?'

"He says 'no, I'm turning the heating off'."

Another favourite is one about an explorer seeing a monkey in the jungle with a banana and a tin opener.

"The man says, 'you don't need that for a banana', to which the monkey replies 'it's for the custard'," Steve says.

Above all though, Steve has never wanted to be seen as 'brave'.

He is proud of the media personality that has cropped up on the TV and radio, even though his friends don't recognise him.

"One of them said to me recently, 'where did all this talk of you being inspirational come from? We still think you're a pain in the backside'."