Cancer patient Maxine's surprise hit

Watch our interviews with Billy Bragg

Back in October, we reported on an extraordinary project to bring music and song writing to patients suffering from terminal cancer.

One of the songs we featured was a collaboration between the singer Billy Bragg, and 47 year old Maxine Edgington, who's being treated for breast cancer.

Their song, called We Laughed, has been released as a single - and last night it reached number 11 in the UK charts.

It tells the story of Maxine's relationship with her daughter Jessica, who's now 16 years old. Proceeds from the single will go to Rosetta Life and the Trimar Hospice in Weymouth, Dorset.

This morning on Breakfast:

Maxine and her daughter: the photo which inspired the song

We talked live to Billy Bragg about We Laughed. Unfortunately, Maxine was too ill to be with us this morning, as she has just been undergoing chemotherapy.

Billy told us how Maxine's positive attitude had helped him come to terms with his own father's death from cancer, many years before:

"Thirty years ago my father was diagnosed with cancer - and the hospital said the best way to deal with it was not to take about it.

"We just sat there and watched him wither away," he told us.

By contrast, Maxine has been very open about her cancer - and its effect on her daughter.

"Working with the women at the hospice was incredibly inspirational.

"These women were taking control of how they would be remembered. "

He added: "A hospice is a place where you go to fight, not to surrender."

We interviewed Billy Bragg twice in the programme. You can watch each interview by clicking on the links on the top right hand side of this story.

You can also find out more from the Rosetta Life partnership from the link below. It works in hospices in the form of residencies and enables people to share their life stories.

Rosetta Life website

The website has recorded a requiem of music - this originally went out in the form of a live web cast in October - more details can be found on the Rosetta Life website.

Rosetta Requiem website