Well, where to begin?

 

In 2009, my dad Izzy Pryce was told totally out of the blue that he had bowel cancer. 

 

To say we were shocked was an understatement. If you knew Izzy, you knew how active he was - he was always in good health and was a man of moderation. The symptoms that took him to the doctor was a change in bowel habits, nothing more out of the ordinary than that. The second blow was even worse than the first - it was already stage 4, meaning it had spread and was, in this case, inoperable and incurable. Izzy worked at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield when it first opened and ironically, that was where he received (superb) treatment during his illness. But after a ten month battle Izzy lost his fight.

 

Since Izzy received his diagnosis, a national screening programme has been rolled out to those over 60. But this relies on people (men and women) taking a sample of their own poo at home and returning it by post... would you do this if you had no symptoms?  

 

I knew nothing about bowel cancer before all this started and the facts and figures are scary - did you know that bowel cancer is the second largest cancer killer in the UK? Did you know that it kills almost twice as many women as cervical and ovarian cancer combined? And the worst thing about these statistics is that if it's caught early enough, bowel cancer is very easy to treat. Would you be more likely to return that sample now? Or encourage your mum, dad, grandpa or grandma to return it? 

 

It's been just over a year now since Izzy passed away and I can honestly say that I miss him every day and I know I'm not the only one. But his death did do something positive, it inspired me to try and do something out of the ordinary. I can never live up to his legend, or hope to accomplish even half of what he did but I can do something.

 

So in his honour, to raise money for and awareness of bowel cancer, I will be running the Chester Marathon on 9 October. And believe me, I need your support to get me through it! I would be so grateful for any donations you can make, however big or small.

 

All money raised is going directly to Bowel Cancer UK, which aims to save lives by raising awareness of bowel cancer, campaigning for best treatment and care and providing practical support and advice.

 

And please, don't be afraid to talk about bowel cancer or to poo in that pot!