About this time last year I got a touch of bowel cancer. I started to notice when my IBS and piles started to play up and I caught what I thought was one of the start of term seasonal bugs. Things got serious when I had to abort a work trip to the big smoke and was out of breath climbing the stairs at home (just the single flight). I was waiting for one of those, you know, non-urgent, two-three week turnaround GP appointments at the time—not the GP's fault just the climate and the slow on-set of symptoms—But escalated to the next available appointment (unfamiliar surgery but it did their job.) A blood test and the results came in during the middle of the night, they tried to call me then (which I missed; phone on silent.) A peripatetic doctor called round in the morning to tell me the results: haemoglobin levels were rock bottom and I needed to go to A&E ASAP where I was admitted poked, prodded and received iron and a couple of blood transfusions. That didn't tell us what was wrong but started the investigation. About a week later a colonoscopy found a tumour; 2 weeks later a CT scan showed how big it was; a week later and I was on the table having a subtotal colectomy and splenectomy.

Stage IIb went to Stage IV in six months despite best standard adjuvant chemotherapy and precipitated yet another crisis and a change of treatment. This one seems to be having an effect for the moment so the 3 month scans say. Hope reigns eternal but the odds are ever not in my favour.

So why am I doing this, well I think mainly because I might have been carrying this tumour round for a couple of years. It was big when they got it out. So for me it's an awareness campaign. I understand that young <55 year old folk getting bowel cancers is more common than you might think, there are genetic links that increase this especially if there's a family history of Endometrial, and/or Colon cancer. Keep your eyes open for the symptoms and if there's a direct history, make sure your GP knows, it could save your life. I'm 43 now by the way.

My next steps on this journey are to keep going as long as I can. I have a family and daughter to watch growing up, God willing.

Please help me with funding for both the research and the outreach.

Mike