The Second Anniversary of Mum's Death

In the space of eight days each August we have what would have been mum and dad's birthdays, and on today August the 29th it's the anniversary of mum's death. She died two years ago from bowel cancer, having been diagnosed in 2012. Obviously bereavement affects us all in different ways, and some days are better than others. It's a time to raise a glass to mum (probably a cup of PG Tips) and allow myself some quiet reflection.

One thing that I have aspired to do over the last couple of years is to live for the moment as much as possible, and although it is still very much work in progress, I can look back on some pretty amazing things. The new fundraising book, The Record, is entering its final stages now. I have decided to give myself until the end of the year to do as many more meetings with people as possible, and then draw a line under it. The plan will be to try and publish the book in the first half of 2019. It's been a remarkable journey full of amazing, and wonderful experiences that I am excited about sharing. Sales of the current book, Lives & Times, and the t-shirts, art, wristbands etc have continued to go well, and have now raised over £4000 for Bowel Cancer UK. The recent skydive was a phenomenal success raising another £2000 for the charity, and I confronted my real fear of heights head on. I have recently set up a store on ETSY to sell everything, but I am still hoping to get a new website, so if anyone can help me with setting up a small eCommerce website please get in touch.

Away from the fundraising I managed to get away to North Wales for a long weekend at the beginning of the year to see The Alarm, where I met up with so many wonderful friends, who have been wonderful supporters too. I then made my first ever trip to New York in May, once again to see The Alarm, and made many new friendships there too. In fact one of the positives to come out of sadness is the way I am slowly coming out of my shell, and being open to making new friendships. Not an easy thing for someone inherently shy.

I took this photo of Mum in Cornwall in 2012, not long after her diagnosis, and just before she started to chemo and radiotherapy to shrink the tumour in her bowel prior to surgery. She was down there with friends for a holiday, and I had to do a rush drive down there to collect her for a hastily arranged appointment. These are the images of Mum that I love to remember. She had bowel cancer for four and a half years, and for pretty much all of that time this was typical mum, very happy, living her life to the full, and not allowing cancer to define it. And not forgetting that glass of wine 😊 xx

I still miss mum, and she remains my inspiration for my fundraising, and efforts to raise awareness about bowel cancer, which is the second highest cancer killer in the UK with 16,000 deaths each year. 41,000 people are diagnosed each year, and if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. This figure drops to 7% when diagnosis is at the later stage 4. The key is to raise awareness and improve early detection rates. At the moment only 15% of patients are diagnosed at the early stage 1 phase, which gives them that best chance of surviving five years or more. I very much support Bowel Cancer UK, and their hope for a future when no-one dies of bowel cancer.

The Tearaways in St Albans

I spent a quite brilliant evening at The Horn in St Albans watching US band The Tearaways. This is without doubt the best way to watch live music, and the band were at the top of their game, and it was a stunning gig. The band were over in the UK doing a short tour, and what a great opportunity to see the band in an intimate venue. They couldn't have been nicer after the show coming back out to chat to everyone. An extra special to bassist John Ferriter for his help, and allowing me to take photographs, and also for giving me some of the band's CDs at the end of the night.

The Tearaways have a rather famous drummer. Clem Burke from Blondie... My own first record was by Blondie, so it's extra special to have this connection in the book.

If you ever get the chance to see this band you must go. Great musicians, and great songs... what a great way to spend a Monday evening...

The chapter on The Tearaways will feature in the forthcoming charity book, The Record, set to be published in 2019. I am doing the book in memory of my mum who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012, and sadly died in 2016. All proceeds raised from sales will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK.

The "Coffee Table" Edition of Lives & Times

The "coffee table" deluxe edition of Lives & Times has been a great success. The paperback version has without doubt been the most popular, but I have sold plenty of hardbacks too, including one to fellow fan of The Alarm, Pete Bloomfield, photographed here just after I gave him his copy in Llandudno a couple of years ago. The hardback edition is just that extra bit special, and the print quality of the photos is superb. The fundraising book features my encounters with many famous people supporting me, and plenty of everyday people too.It is now almost three years since the book was published, and alongside the other items I have been selling, it has raised over £4000 so far, but there is no reason why it shouldn't sell more. To buy a copy of either the hardback or paperback please use the contact form or send me an email.

If you are looking for a slightly different book, then this book makes a great read, and the perfect book to have as coffee table reading. I still have a few copies available from my ETSY online store, and they are currently £27.49 including postage, and as with everything I sell, all proceeds raised are donated to Bowel Cancer UK. 

Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK. 16,000 people die each year, but if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. Early detection is key, as when detected at the later stage 4 only 7% of patients survive five years. My mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012, and died in August 2016. Everything I now do is being done in her memory.

Setting A Deadline

I have always said that the new fundraising book, The Record, will be ready when its ready, and I wouldn't be putting myself under any time pressure. So here I am setting a deadline for the end of this year... This deadline is in fact for the finishing of the meetings and photos for the book.This will still mean that the book probably won't see the light of day until next spring.

There are sensible reasons for this. The people I first met at the start of this adventure will have been waiting over two years for the book to be finished, which is quite a long time, and already quite a few chapters will need updating, so if I carry on much longer it could almost become out of date before it's published. I've also been waiting of some people who said yes to come through for me, and some have gone very quiet on me, so how long do I wait in the hope that I get to meet them? I'd love everyone to be in the book who has said yes, but I can't force people, and I want people to want to be part of it, rather than for me to hassle them into it. I think that in some cases waiting for a couple of years is long enough though, and it's time to draw a line under it. 

The other thing that I need to sort out is a book cover design. This is way out of my capabilities to do myself, so I will need help with this. There are one two ideas floating around and possible offers of help, but if anyone reading this would like to get involved, then please do get in touch with me.

Regardless of who else I manage to meet before the end of the year, this book has already gone past my expectations in terms of who I've met, and I can't wait for it to be seen and read by as many people as possible. 

It's been an exciting time for the bowel cancer community this month. The recent news that screening in England and Wales will be reduced from 60 to 50 is excellent news, but we now need to know when this be rolled out. And Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together) is the new name for the charity following the merger of Beating Bowel Cancer and Bowel Cancer UK at the beginning of the year. The new brand was unveiled at the beginning of this month, and all of us connected to the charity have certainly been lifted by this.

But let's not forget that bowel cancer remains the second biggest cancer killer in the UK taking 16,000 lives each year, and much work needs to be done to get this figure down..

Bowel Cancer Screening Age Reduced From 60 to 50 in England and Wales

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Today the news broke that the bowel cancer screening age will be reduced from 60 to 50 in England and Wales. This is the result of a lot of hard work by an awful lot of people putting pressure on government to make this change to match Scotland, where the screening age is already at 50.

I must give a very special mention to the inspirational and quite wonderful Lauren Backler, who has turned the devastation of losing her mum, Fiona, to bowel cancer in 2015, into an amazing campaign to get the bowel cancer screening age reduced from 60 to 50. Lauren set up an online petition , which has had almost 500,000 signatures. Lauren has appeared across the national media, and has even spoken at Westminster. 

Today's news means that over 4,000 people could have their bowel cancer detected at a much earlier stage, giving them a much greater chance of survival. Lauren's mother would have been screened a number of times if this had been the case, and most likely still be here today. Unfortunately by the time she was diagnosed her condition was terminal, and she lived for just a few months. I know Lauren doesn't want others to go through the devastation that her family has experienced. I am sure that Fiona Backler would be so so proud of what her daughter has achieved.

I was fortunate enough to meet Lauren last year for my forthcoming book. She is a very kind, giving and generous person, but also with a steely determination to achieve a successful outcome to her campaign. Although the reasons why I come into contact with so many people for the book are based on a common loss and sadness due to bowel cancer, the wonderful thing is how new friendships are being made with some very special people, and she is certainly one of those.

Jules Peters: My Cancer Journey

Jules and Mike at Abbey Road

On Tuesday night BBC 1 Wales had the first airing of "Jules Peters: My Cancer Journey", which covers Jules journey of recovering from breast cancer, the reconstructive surgery that followed, to rebuilding her confidence, and supporting others. It's a must watch programme available to catch up on BBC iplayer. The show also showed Jules meeting up with the ladies "You Me And The Big C" podcast. One of whom, Deborah James (Bowel Babe) is a stage 4 bowel cancer patient, who I was lucky enough to meet last year for the new book.

I first met Jules, wife of The Alarm's Mike Peters, in the early 2000s at The Gathering in Llandudno - the annual event held in North Wales for a weekend of music by Mike Peters and The Alarm. I first tried to get her to go for printed "poppy" carrier bags, and sure enough the following year I drove to the same event with a car boot full of "Alarm" carrier bags. I can't claim to know her very well, but will always say hello and have a chat with her. Jules was extremely helpful in setting up the photo at Abbey Road of herself and Mike for the chapter about Mike in the Lives & Times book I published in 2015. I'm still hopeful that Jules will be part of the new book if she ever stays still for five minutes, and her feet ever touch the ground!

It's almost two years since mum passed away from bowel cancer. The way I have dealt with bereavement has been to shut down, and detach myself from that painful period. I suppress memories, and have found the fundraising to be quite cathartic as I moved into the next stage of my life. However every so often something will happen that gets through the wall that I have built, and hits you right in the pit of the stomach, bringing back memories and the raw pain that resides somewhere deep inside. In the documentary Jules met Nicola, who is another breast cancer patient still very much in the midst of the disease. The moment she told Jules about the cancer spreading to her brain, shook me to the core, especially when Nicola talked about the brain seizures. 

Mum's illness lasted for four and a half years. Most of her treatment was surgical, and the cancer had spread to her lungs which resulted in four operations to remove cancerous nodules. Mum never let the cancer define her, and she would always count down the days post operation to when she could drive her car again, and most importantly ride her horse. She had such a passion for life. It was only when the cancer spread to mum's brain that things really took a really serious turn for the worse. Treatment options were running out, and the brain seizures became more frequent with increasing consequences. The final seizure left mum paralysed down her right side, and almost speechless. During her 2 months in hospital, the steroids improved her speech and she got a little mobility back in her right side. However, when she was deemed to be terminal, an moved to a nursing home under palliative care, the medication was slowly withdrawn and the everything went backwards. She was at the nursing home for just over a month, and passed away peacefully on August 29th, 2016.

I am not sure quite what I am trying to say here. Perhaps to explain just how a big a deal cancer is, the effect it has on patients and their loved ones. Jules crams so much into her life every day. Bringing up a family, managing The Alarm, being a band member in The Alarm, and giving up a large part of herself to fans every single day, and not forgetting reaching out to fellow breast cancer patients. She is an amazing lady, and an inspiration to many.

To balance things out here on a personal level. Yes the loss of mum, and to be fair also dad some years earlier, has been a devastating blow, and one that I am still coming to terms with. However, when I think about things there is much positivity to take out of those sad events. I have done things that I would otherwise never have done. I've published two books, with a third on the way. I have recently jumped put of a plane. I went to New York for the first time in May. And most importantly it's the many new friendships I have made especially with fans of The Alarm. Their support of my fundraising has been astonishing, and I have gone from being very much a loner at gigs, to someone who can now go to an Alarm concert with the confidence of knowing that there will be many familiar faces to talk to, even in New York. 

So there you go, and I still really know quite what I am trying to say here! Live for the moment, hold on to what you have and those around you, and reach out to others. And watch the documentary! x

Meeting Television Sports Presenter Jim Rosenthal For Bowel Cancer Fundraising Book

I had a really enjoyable time meeting sports presenter Jim Rosenthal in my home town of Maidenhead. He was such an interesting man to talk to, and great fun at the same time. We chatted for over and hour, but if I am honest I could have spent the whole day talking to him. It's going to make for a great chapter in the book, and as well as a great first record, Jim is also very kindly allowing me to use a photo from his personal collection in the book, which is quite wonderful. I'd only made contact with Jim a few days ago, but he came through for immediately, and we arranged this meeting in just a few days. The meeting place was also of great interest, and all will be revealed in the book next year.

The new fundraising booked, to be called The Record, is being written in memory of my mum who passed away from bowel cancer in 2016. All proceeds raised will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together). As well as the fundraising, the book will help raise awareness about this awful disease. If detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases, but this figure drops to just 7% at the late stage 4. At the moment only 15% of patients are detected at stage 1, and so early detection rates need to improve to improve survival rates.