F*** You Cancer by Deborah James

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.

Book Reviews

The role that reviews play in getting the Lives & Times bowel cancer charity book out to a wider audience is an important part of increasing sales. In basic terms when people see an item on Amazon has a high number of good reviews they are more likely to buy it. This is both irrational but predictable behaviour...

To date less than a quarter of the sales have been on Amazon with the vast majority being by myself. I am currently selling the book and other items on my ETSY online store. This is good for the fundraising as more money goes to the charity from purchases made on my website.

However it does not matter where you have bought the book as you can still post a review on Amazon.

The reviews I've had have been great with some maximum five start reviews. If I know someone has bought the the book I always ask them if they would be kind enough to post a review. However it is more important to get a  high quantity of reviews, as a book with 500 four-star reviews will sell more copies than a book with 15 five-star reviews.

So for anyone who has kindly bought Lives & Times fundraising book and not managed to do a review yet, please could you post one on Amazon as every review really does help. Please take a look at the reviews posted so far on Amazon.

All proceeds I receive are being donated to Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together) with over £4000 raised so far. My mother died in August 2016 after the bowel cancer spread to her brain by way of her left lung.

I am also very keen to get the book reviewed by the media and book reviewers. This has so far proved to be very challenging. If anyone reading this has any ideas to help I would be very grateful.

Meeting Television Director and Guitarist Ed Bazalgette for Bowel Cancer Charity Book

I had a brilliant meeting with Ed Bazalgette for the forthcoming charity book I am writing for Bowel Cancer UK in memory of my mother who died in 2016. Ed, not only directs television programmes such as Dr Who, but also is the guitarist with The Vapors, best remembered for their 1980 hit single 'Turning Japanese'. We spent an hour chatting all things music and television and it was fascinating getting an insight into his work. The book is hopefully going to be published next spring, and this meeting took a while to come together, but well worth the wait.

Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in UK - 16,000 people die every year. However, if detected early at stage 1 it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. If diagnosed at the late stage 4 phase only 7% of patients will live for 5 years or more. At the moment only 15% of people are diagnosed at stage 1, so it is vital to improve early detection rates to save more lives.

Please take a look at my ETSY online store, where I have a whole load of items raising money for the charity.

Gail Porter Supporting Bowel Cancer Charity Books

Gail Porter is one of a very select group of people who, having featured in the Lives & Times bowel cancer charity book, will also feature in the new fundraising book, The Record, due to be published in 2019.

We are still trying to arrange the meeting for the new book, but going back to December 2014 we met at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, which is like a home from home for Gail. This first meeting between us began disastrously as, unbelievably, we somehow missed each other. Thankfully we were able to try again the following week, and we eventually managed to meet up on what was a very cold and festive evening. I can't believe that this was almost four years ago now.

Gail was really lovely, and very enthusiastic in getting involved in the book - she was brilliant fun, and it was certainly one of my favourite chapters I did for Lives & Times. The chapter makes reference to our ride on the 'Ski Slope' ride, where stupidly I hadn't realised quite what I was letting myself in for! Lets just say 360 degrees! 😱Of course meeting Gail was a brilliant photo opportunity, and how many people can count themselves lucky enough to have photographed the beautiful Gail Porter? 

My mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012. Although the operation to remove the tumour from her bowel was a success, the cancer spread to her left lung, and she had four operations to remove nodules from her lungs, bouncing back each time getting back on her horse and driving her car even as she approached her 80th birthday. Sadly in 2016 the cancer also spread to her brain and her condition became terminal, and Mum died on the 29th of August 2016. 

All my fundraising is now being done in Mum's memory, and if anything the whole point of the fundraising and raising awareness about bowel cancer has been even more reinforced by her death. All proceeds I receive are being donated to Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together), the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK, but if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. Much more needs to be done in raising awareness, and improving early detection rates.

The fundraising total is now past £4000 thanks to kindness of generosity of so many people. Please check out my ETSY online store website where there are lots of items you can buy to support my fundraising efforts. 

Photographing The Original Status Quo Line Up For Bowel Cancer Charity Book

It was over four years ago that I began meeting people for my bowel cancer fundraising books. My first ever request was emailed to Status Quo and they came back with a yes. Of course in my naivety at the time I thought that everyone would say yes! So I photographed the original Status Quo line up that reformed for the gigs in 2014 from the press pit at the Hammersmith Apollo, and it was absolutely amazing. It really felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I managed to take about 200 photos in the 10 minutes you are allowed in the pit before being ejected from the venue! The full story along with some of the very best photos appeared in my Lives & Times charity book, which has so far raised over £4000 for Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together). The photo below shows just how close to stage I was... Thanks Quo! 😊

Lives & Times was published in 2015, and at the time of publication my mother was receiving treatment for bowel cancer, having been diagnosed in 2012. It is one of my proudest achievements having mum see the finished book and how successful it has been. Sadly she died in 2016, and my next book, due for publication 2019, will be raising funds in her memory. Bowel Cancer UK is striving towards a day when no-one dies of bowel cancer. At the moment it is the second highest cancer killer as 16,000 people die each year. However, if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases.

Sadly, since publication of Lives & Times, Rick Parfitt of Status Quo died on Christmas Eve 2016. I am happy to reveal that I've met John Coghlan from Quo for the forthcoming book.

Photographing Gregg Wallace For Bowel Cancer Charity Book

Television presenter Gregg Wallace is the latest person that I have photographed for The Record, my forthcoming charity book that will raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK. I met him before his one man show at the Norden Farm Arts Centre in Maidenhead, which is the road where my mum and dad lived all their married lives and where I grew up. Although he arrived a little late at the venue for our meeting, he was still happy to give me as much time as I wanted, and he couldn't have been more helpful. His first record that will be revealed in the book is a cracker! 

My mum died from bowel cancer in 2016, and all proceeds raised from sales of the book will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK. 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK each year, and 16,000 people die making it the second highest cancer killer. However, if detected at the early stage 1, patients have a 93% chance of living for five years or more. This figure falls to just 7% when diagnosed at the late stage 4. At the moment just 15% of cases are detected at stage 1, so improving early detection rates is crucial to reducing the number of deaths. Bowel Cancer UK is doing some amazing work driving this process forward, and I am proud to be raising funds for them, and making my own small contribution to raising awareness. Please check out my ETSY store where all my fundraising items are available.

Arsenal Legend Charlie Nicholas Features In Lives & Times Bowel Cancer Charity Book

Arsenal legend Charlie Nicholas was the greatest footballer I ever saw play live. If Malcolm Macdonald was my childhood footballing hero, Charlie was the first proper hero I had when I was going to watch Arsenal games. I met him for the book at a hotel in Brentford not far from SKY Sports before a European Champions League night he was covering. A nicer man you couldn't wish to meet. Having been told I might get half an hour with him, we ended up chatting for an hour or so. It was absolutely fascinating and a brilliant experience. It is one of my favourite chapters in the book so get Lives & Times and have a read. Over £4000 has now been raised for Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together).

Sadly my mother, the inspiration for the book, died in August 2016, four and half years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK. 16,000 people die each year. However, if detected early at stage 1 it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases with patients surviving five years or more. This drops to only 7% when diagnosis occurs at the late stage 4. Only 15% of cases are currently diagnosed at stage 1, so much more needs to be done to improve early detection rates.