Today I went to see Deborah James and Lauren Mahon, from the You, Me and the Big C #youmebigc podcast, at the Henley Literary Festival. Deborah's book F*** You Cancer was published this week, and is already a best seller. It's a brilliant book, which I would highly recommend buying a copy. One in two people will be affected by cancer, so it's great to see these two inspirational women bringing cancer into the mainstream. The ladies paid tribute to the other member of the podcast, Rachael Bland, who, very sadly, recently died from breast cancer. I went wearing an Alarm t-shirt as Deborah recently met Jules Peters from the band, who is another inspirational individual living with cancer. I am working on Deborah becoming a fan! 😊
Today's event was held at Phyllis Court in Henley, and although I am local to the town and drive past it every day, I'd never been there before. In fact my mum was born only a few hundred yards from the venue in The Sun pub in 1936, which sadly is now offices. It was a highly entertaining hour, but also informative and talking about all the issues surrounding living with cancer. The good news is that the number one podcast will be back, and I think that this live event format could also be worth developing.. In fact so popular was the event today, that Deborah was still signing copies of her book as the next event was starting.
Just over a year ago I met Deborah for my forthcoming fundraising book, The Record, which I am hoping will be published in spring 2019. It was a fascinating, and enlightening experience listening to her story, and talking at length about bowel cancer. Deborah, married with two young children, has an aggressive form of stage 4 bowel cancer. Since her diagnosis she has played a major role in raising awareness about the disease, as well as raising a considerable amount of money for cancer charities. She leads her life at 100 miles an hour - I would compare her to a human hurricane! She spoke with great passion about bowel cancer, but also with a lot of common sense. We chatted for about three hours with beers and wine as refreshments, and although the conversation covered every aspect surrounding her illness, Deborah was great fun, a master of fruity language, and with laughter never too far away. I will have to revisit the chapter on Deborah as so much has happened to her since our meeting.
Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK claiming 16,000 lives each year. However if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. A massive challenge is to improve the early detection rates giving more patients a better chance of living longer. At the moment only 15% of bowel cancer patients are diagnosed at the early stage 1. I am writing my new book in memory of my mum, who sadly passed away from bowel cancer in August 2016. All funds raised from sales of this book will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together), the UK's leading bowel cancer charity.
