Bowel Cancer UK Charity New Brand is Revealed

Today the new brand of the recently merged charities, Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer is revealed. The new name is Bowel Cancer UK with the strapline Beating Bowel Cancer Together. Bowel Cancer UK is the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. The new brand has an eye catching new logo modeled by yours truly on one of the charity's brand new t-shirts.

This means that all my own fundraising, in memory of my mum who passed away in 2016, is now supporting Bowel Cancer UK, including the forthcoming book, The Record, which I am hoping to publish next year. Please read the today's press release below about the new brand and the Bowel Cancer UK's hopes for the future.

Below is today's press release

LEADING BOWEL CANCER CHARITY REVEALS NEW BRAND AFTER MERGER

Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer reveal the new brand after merging in January 2018 to create a future where nobody dies of the disease. Today the charity announces Bowel Cancer UK as the new name, underpinned with the strapline Beating Bowel Cancer Together.

Bowel Cancer UK is determined to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by the disease. The UK’s leading bowel cancer charity will support and fund targeted research, provide expert information and support to patients and their families, educate the public and professionals about the disease and campaign for early diagnosis and access to best treatment and care.

The charity worked with award-winning brand and communications agency, The Team, to create a modern and vibrant visual identity, which consists of a new logo, font, tone of voice, colour palette and a refreshed website as well as a new name and strapline.

The logo incorporates the Star of Hope, the international symbol for bowel cancer.  It represents hope for the future and celebrates the lives of those we have lost to bowel cancer.  It is used across the US and in several other countries. The Star of Hope is central to the charity’s identity as it strongly resonates with supporters and patients, who are at the heart of what the charity does and the reason they exist.

Deborah Alsina MBE, Chief Executive of Bowel Cancer UK, says: “We are delighted to unveil our new brand. We hope this will enable us to build an active community of patients and their families, clinicians, politicians, academics and others who will join us to ensure that we meet our mission to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by the disease.  Bowel cancer remains the UK’s second biggest cancer killer, claiming over 16,000 lives a year but we are determined to change that.”

Dan Dufour, Creative Brand Strategist at The Team, said: “There are lots of cancer charity brands in the UK market, so we’ve had to dig deep to differentiate the new Bowel Cancer UK brand. The combination of community action and human authenticity, with hope for the future, will help the new Bowel Cancer UK brand stand-out to inspire more support.”

Almost 42,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK every year. However the disease is treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early. Nearly everyone survives bowel cancer if diagnosed at the earliest stage. However this drops significantly as the disease develops. Early diagnosis really does save lives.

Visit our new look website: bowelcanceruk.org.uk

A Memory of Mum

 

This photo is a reminder of just what an amazing lady Mum was. Taken shortly after she had been transferred from Wexham Park Hospital to the St. Marks Nursing Home in Maidenhead, where she would spend the last few weeks of her life with her bowel cancer now terminal. Throughout four and a half years of treatment she took everything that was thrown at her  - never complaining, dignified, courageous, and with a steely determination to get through.

She had been bedridden in hospital for almost a couple of months following a huge seizure caused by the cancer spreading to the brain. This had left her paralysed down one side, and caused problems with her speech. To then see her outside in the garden at the nursing home with a glass of wine was pretty special 😊❤

The photo popped up into Facebook memories this morning. Understandably it was a sad time, but there were still plenty of lovely moments enjoyed with mum during those weeks x

TV Presenter Gregg Wallace To Feature In Bowel Cancer Charity Book

Some great news today with television presenter Gregg Wallace joining the list of celebrities taking part in The Record, my forthcoming charity book in support of Bowel Cancer UK / Beating Bowel Cancer, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. The presenter of BBC's Masterchef is going on tour in the autumn, and I shall hopefully be meeting him at his show when it comes to Maidenhead.

The book is being written in memory of my mum who died from this awful disease in 2016. 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer, and 16,000 die each year. It is the second highest cancer killer in the UK. However, if detected early at stage 1, bowel cancer can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. This figures falls to just 7% when detected at stage 4. At the moment just 15% of people are diagnosed with bowel cancer at stage 1. Improving early detection rates will improve survival rates.

The current hope is to publish the book in the first part of 2019 if everything goes to plan. All proceeds raised from sales of the book will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK / Beating Bowel Cancer.

Ben Richards Features in The Lives & Times Bowel Cancer Charity Book

One of the first people I approached and photographed for the Lives & Times book was the actor Ben Richards. Ben is in remission from bowel cancer, having been diagnosed in 2012, and he immediately said yes to my request, and was very enthusiastic to get involved.

In the above photo he posed with the Beating Bowel Cancer tie, which these days is used to support and promote the Follow The Bowel Cancer Tie group on Facebook. You can take a look of what that is about here. I won't reveal too much of what happened when I met Ben back in 2014, and instead hope you might buy the book and read the chapter instead, because the afternoon turned into a great story in itself with me getting unique access to rehearsals for the Rock of Ages musical that Ben was about to go on tour with. The support for the project never ceased to surprise me, and every time that I thought that things couldn't get any better they did!

Similar to Ben my mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012. She had five major operations, and throughout it all she was very positive, never complained, and was happy to have any treatment that was required. Her main focus was always when could she ride her horse again, and start to drive her car. Although the surgery to remove the tumour from her bowel was successful, the cancer spread to her left lung, and then latterly to her brain. She sadly passed away in August 2016. 

I am currently writing a new fundraising book, which will be called The Record, and I am really happy that Ben's partner, television presenter Kirsty Duffy, has greed to be part of. 

The Story of my Skydive for Bowel Cancer UK

I have always been happier with both my feet on the ground, and even up to a few months ago I would never have thought that I would ever do a skydive. I have always had a problem with heights, and am absolutely terrified. I suppose it was this fear that made the challenge a good idea to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK. It's been almost two years since mum passed away from this awful disease, and with my next charity book not yet finished, I felt that I wanted to do something significant this year to raise more funds. So on Saturday July 14th I went to Hinton Airfield just outside Brackley, in Northants, to do The Big Jump for Bowel Cancer UK.

There is little in the way of training that you can do for a skydive. I went up The Empire State Building in May, and although the views were incredible, it was very scary being up so high, and worrying about falling off! There was of course no way that I could back out of the skydive. As soon as I had set up my justgiving page the sponsorship began to come in, so it was a case of working hard at building up some kind of mental barrier to try and get through the skydive.

The jump was supposed to be from 10,000 feet, but on the day we were told it was actually 13,000! But what was another 3,000 feet going to matter... Once out of the plane we were told we would freefall for about 45 seconds, and around 5,000 feet, before the parachute opened, and then it would take around 5 more minutes to descent to the ground. 

It was a scorching hot day, even at 9.30 when we took off in the small plane. I managed to get myself on the first plane, as I wanted to spend as little time as possible worrying about it. My thinking was the sooner I got started, the sooner it would all be over. The flight took about 12 minutes to get to the drop zone, and Chris, my professional tandem partner, gave me a great guide of the local area from the plane. He was very good at taking my mind off the jump! 

There was no time to worry about whether I would be able to do the jump. We shuffled into position very quickly, and pretty much before I had a chance to think about what was about to happen we were out of the plane, and into the sky. Initially I forgot to open out my arms after the tap on shoulders from Chris. He ended up pulling my arms open. I think I had got a bit mixed up, and thought that I opened my arms after 45 seconds. Anyway I think I can be forgiven while plummeting to the earth from 13,000 feet!

I have to admit that the freefall was incredible. The initial almost surreal type moment of jumping out of the plane, followed by a few spins and then the wind and noise, and seeing the countryside so far below. After the freefall the parachute opened, and this for me was the worst part. I hadn't got myself ready, and so when we broke out of the 100mph fall, I think my stomach carried on going! It left me feeling quite nauseous, and at this point with the parachute open I was much more aware the height, and that there was nothing below us. However, as you can see the views were magnificent. You can still appreciate such things in moments of terror!

During the descent Chris explained how the parachute was steered and most importantly how the brakes worked. There wasn't much wind which made for a potentially more difficult landing. Chris  expertly took us down safely, and I have never been so thankful to feel the gentle bump of us landing. 

People had said to me beforehand that I would love it, and want to get back straight back into the plane and do it all over again. Well.... no! I didn't hate it, and yes I kind of enjoyed it, but not enough to want to do it again. It was an incredible and unforgettable experience.

The whole point behind the skydive was to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK. What I didn't expect was the incredible and amazing support I got from people making some wonderfully generous donations. It meant that I raised about double my original target. The total currently stands at just over £2000, and I thank every single person so very much for every single penny donated. My justgiving page is open for a little while longer, so anyone wishing to donate can still do so at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tims-bigjump.

What next? Well I shall leave everyone in peace for a while now, and concentrate on finishing my new fundraising book, The Record. I am hoping to publish that book in the first part of 2019, but I have still have quite a bit left to do. There are some exciting developments with the charity happening, so watch this space for more news as they happen.

The skydive was dedicated to Mum's memory, and as I jumped out of the plane I had an image of her very much in front of me. It's also dedicated to anyone who has been affected by bowel cancer, especially those who are currently under treatment. It's the most awful disease, and the day that no-one dies of bowel cancer can't come soon enough!

Photographing The Levellers in Basingstoke

The night before jumping out of a plane to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK, I was on book photography duty. Having met Jeremy Cunningham from The Levellers for the forthcoming bowel cancer fundraising book, The Record, a few months ago in Brighton, I went to band's recent gig at The Anvil in Basingstoke to complete my photography for the chapter in the book.

It was my first time at The Anvil, and the venue presented some interesting challenges for the photography, as basically there was no photo pit, and no gap between the front row of the audience and the stage. I also wanted to focus on Jeremy, and he was at the back of the stage. So I had to get creative. The band had very kindly sorted me out with a photo pass as well as a fantastic seat to watch the concert, so it was all good in the end as I got some great pictures.

The book is being written in memory of my mum who passed away from bowel cancer in 2016. Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK, claiming 16,000 people each year. However, if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. At the moment only 15% of those diagnosed with bowel cancer are caught at the early stage 1, so raising awareness is key as well as the fundraising.

24 Hours Until The Charity Skydive From 10,000 Feet

The countdown is on, and it's now just 24 hours until I jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK. Over the last six years, since Mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer, I have done a lot of fundraising, and raising awareness about this awful illness. This venture is a brilliant way of raising funds, but on a personal level it is probably the worst idea I have ever had! A genuine fear of heights means that I am terrified, and not looking forward to it at all. In fact I will be so happy once I have two feet back on the ground. However, the support from everyone has been phenomenal with over £1450 raised so far. Thank to everyone who have been so very generous x

Jumping out of the plane will go against all my natural instincts, and even now I can't guarantee that I will be able to do the skydive - I think I will need a big push! My tactic will be to think about Mum, and be doing it very much in her memory. The image above will be in my mind throughout.

I will investigate the option of having my day videoed, and so hopefully everyone will get to see what happens, and also see some photos as the day unfolds. It is not too late to sponsor me at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tims-bigjump

Obviously my main motivation for my fundraising is Mum. Diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012, she had successful surgery to remove the tumour from her bowel, and then four more major operations to remove nodules from her lungs. It was when the cancer also spread to her brain that treatment options began to run out, and her health deteriorated. She passed away on August 29th, 2016. I still miss her very much.

The facts are that 41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in the UK alone, and sadly 16,000 people die each year. If detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. At the moment only 15% of cases are caught at the early stage 1. Therefore raising awareness is key, as improving early diagnosis will greatly improve the current survival rates. Bowel Cancer UK / Beating Bowel Cancer, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity, hope that by 2050 no-one will die from bowel cancer. Your sponsorship will help fund their work.

Wish me luck for tomorrow, I think I am going need it!