'For her and her family it was a challenging time': James Middleton on his sister Kate's cancer diagnosis

The Princess of Wales' brother James Middleton has described her battle with cancer as "a challenging time" for the entire family.

To cope, he said the Middletons came together "offering support and help where you can".

It's been just over a year since Catherine, 43, told the world she had been diagnosed with cancer.

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On the advice of her medical team, the mother-of-three took leave from her public duties to undergo chemotherapy which ended in September.

Since then, the princess has made a gradual return to official duties and during a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital in January, where she had been treated in private, Kate revealed she was now in remission.

In the past few months, Kate's workload has increased with a busy diary that's almost back to normal.

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Speaking of her ordeal late last year, the princess said being diagnosed had brought her "face to face with your own vulnerabilities" adding the experience had given her "a new perspective on everything".

She has credited the natural world in helping her recovery, along with family.

Now, Kate's brother has given an insight into how the period affected the entire Middleton clan.

"What I think is that, as a family, you learn to see and process and understand things," Middleton told The Times.

"For her and her family it was a challenging time, and I know for us and our bigger family it was a challenging time, but I think it's about communication and it's about offering support and help where you can.

"Being there for someone is such an important part, and it doesn't necessarily have to be on your terms and it shouldn't be on your terms. It should be on their terms; unconditional: 'I'm not doing it for something in return. I'm doing it because I love you.'

"And that's the simplest way of really demonstrating love. You can do it in all these various fancy ways but actually, you know, it is just generally being there."

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Middleton said it was his two sisters, Kate and Pippa, who helped him through his own period of difficulty.

Eight years ago, he was considering suicide when he caught sight of his dog, Ella, looking up at him.

"I imagined what it would be like for Ella, how unfair it would have been for her, and then that extended to my whole family and my friends. All I would have done was transfer my pain on to other people."

He's written about his experiences in the best-selling book, Meet Ella: The Dog Who Saved My Life, which has been re-released in paperback.

After that moment inside his parent's flat in London's Chelsea, Middleton began therapy and was later diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and clinical depression.

Both Kate and Pippa came with him to a couple of therapy sessions.

"Having them there meant that I knew I was surrounded by people that truly understood what I was going through. I think the biggest challenge was that I had my own stigma about mental health," he said.

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"Having others surrounding you and the support that I had from them was so incredible. I will be forever thankful for that because they didn't give up."

Middleton, who is now 38 with a son, Inigo, said going through such a "very difficult time" that "also did bring us closer as a family because we recognised the vulnerabilities that we all face".

If you or someone you know needs help, call or visit Lifeline on 13 11 14

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