In June of 1985 Philip went to his doctor. After feeling unwell and lacking energy for several months, and having been brushed aside on two previous occasions, he was finally given a blood test. Within the week he was in hospital receiving his first round of chemotherapy for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. It was a profound shock for him and his family. He described the moments after the diagnosis as his most desperate hours.

Due to the severity of the diagnosis he took early retirement from teaching; he had found himself becoming increasingly disillusioned and fatigued as the nature of teaching changed before him. However, despite the debilitating illness, Philip experienced a feeling of liberation. He was able to do exactly what he wanted and he set about working with a passion on his unfinished ideas.

Philip had always been liked and respected. If he had ever been a man who could hold the attention of his audience before, this became ever more so now. With candidness in his first television interview, he offered insights into his emotional and physical experience of his illness as he talked about the reasons behind his sculptures, his beliefs in humanity and his faith. No one wanted to consider the possible outcome of his condition, however Philip was open about it, keeping a powerful but grounded optimism. The television people came back for more, recording a total of six broadcast in his last year.

Philip fought to stay alive. In the process of his battling against the effects of the disease and the treatment, he visualised and, in the following period of remission, created a sculpture to communicate the inner battle:

"This figure developed in my mind when I first started chemotherapy in June 1985. The warrior fought for me whenever I felt threatened by 'illness' which came in the form of black clouds rushing across a deserted plain. As they neared me and the warrior, the clouds broke up. The warrior stood on a rock. wielding his sword with skill, and not one piece of "black gunge" passed him. He felled everyone.

The battle lasted several days. Initially, his armour was bright and shone in the light. But, at the end of the battle, his armour was dulled by the heat and the dust. He was never tired and was always ready for the next onslaught. All the time, he stood over me as I lay by the rock over which he strode. I could watch the battle but did not become involved because I knew I could trust him implicitly. So there he now stands on his rock defending the light that is me"

So he wrote on his sick bed in Torbay Hospital in the spring of 1986. In the short remission which followed, the concept of the 'Warrior Within' was forged in a permanent form. It was this visualisation, together with the music of Rachmaninov, which would give him particular comfort in the harrowing weeks ahead enduring the harsh treatment of chemotherapy.

His fight made a big impact on all around him. The nurses who became closely involved in his life at that time, recounted to Bill Blinston that Philip had been someone 'special', 'different'. Instead of giving comfort to this patient, they had often found that the roles had been reversed and that he comforted them. Throughout his suffering he would draw upon a deep well of strength and courage, and this would rub off on those around him. A man who was gained his acquaintance at the time, told Philip's wife that he had met him only once 'but you wanted to be his friend'.

Philip died at 2.40 am, July 8th 1986 at his home in Devon, in the arms of his wife and surrounded by the people he loved; he was buried on his 47th birthday.