Many thanks for visiting our JustGiving page.

This is the page for me, Ian Buchanan, and my close friend from our schooldays, Martin Samman, and we are trying to put our time (and creaking bodies – especially mine) to good use for a very good cause, seeking donations for the charity Beating Bowel Cancer.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never share them with anyone or send you unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

March 31st this year was the twentieth anniversary of my surgery in 1994 for secondary liver cancer and I am aware that I am exceptionally fortunate to have reached this milestone. Crucially, my liver cancer resulted from bowel cancer, which was diagnosed in August 1992 and for which I had surgery the following month.

I was oblivious of the symptoms of bowel cancer until I was actually given the diagnosis and, despite having sought medical advice at an early stage, I have little doubt that awareness of the symptoms (the first signs of which had actually appeared in March 1992) would have speeded up the diagnosis and initial surgery and, who knows, might have reduced the likelihood of the liver problem which subsequently arose.

Bowel cancer is the second biggest cause of cancer deaths in the UK, but in over 90% of cases early diagnosis could lead to successful treatment. Reaching the twentieth anniversary therefore seemed a really good reason to do something which would aim to both raise awareness of bowel cancer and its symptoms (not something people usually want to talk about!) as well as funds for Beating Bowel Cancer.

To hopefully achieve this, Martin and I are aiming to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats, starting in Land’s End on Sunday June 15th and arriving in John O’Groats on Thursday July 3^rd (OK, it’s not the fastest schedule, but given where my fitness was for my first training ride with Martin at the beginning of April, it’ll be testing enough!).

During our training for the ride and on the ride itself I’m delighted we have been able to arrange to call in to see both the surgeons who performed my operations (in Lancaster and Edinburgh) and the intention is to record this and other events on our travels in a blog, the link to which is below.

http://ianbuchanan-martinsamman.blogspot.co.uk/

There are of course many good causes worthy of people’s support and Beating Bowel Cancer is one of those and I urge you to follow the link below to the charity’s website to learn more about the condition, as well as the work of the charity.

www.beatingbowelcancer.org

Greater bowel cancer awareness can make a real difference and Martin and I would greatly appreciate any donation to support this cause and to help us achieve and hopefully exceed our target.

Finally, here, and recognising again how fortunate I have to date been, I want to remember two people I have known personally who also had bowel cancer, but are sadly no longer with us. One was a friend from my many years living in Kendal, Jane Whiteside. The other was someone I only met once in person, in 2011, Alison Selfe, through whom I established my contact with Beating Bowel Cancer. Knowing both Jane and Alison gives an even greater incentive for me (aided by the efforts of Martin, without whom this just wouldn’t happen), to make the most of this ride.

Thanks for reading this and for any support you can give us.