I will never forget Sunday 26 July 2015. It was a miserable wet grey day and I had planned to visit Brighton with a friend. Shortly before midday, my Dad called and shared the news that he had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Bowel Cancer. 

Following the diagnosis, Dad underwent a resection of his bowel, an appendectomy and the removal of some of his lymph nodes. For a short while, everything was looking rosy until scanning revealed his liver had been invaded with a total of 17 secondary tumours! Now the disease was re-staged as stage 4 metastatic bowel cancer. Like the trooper he was, Dad underwent one lengthy course of chemotherapy then a major liver resection. Sadly, the cancer returned again which meant continued chemotherapy, a course of radiotherapy, ablation and a second liver resection. 

In November 2018, Dad, who had spent his life working at sea, passed his return to work medicals and was chuffed to re-join his work colleagues back on the rigs in the North Sea.

In March 2019, Dad was found collapsed at work and was airlifted to hospital. Sadly, the bowel cancer had erupted and he passed away on 8 April 2019. He was only 65 years old!

My Dad showed incredible strength, resilience and stoicism throughout his journey with bowel cancer. With every piece of crap news he was given, Dad just became more determined to beat it and he never lost his wicked sense of humour. 

 

To remember Dad, I will be running the London Marathon for Bowel Cancer UK in his memory.  I was originally supposed to be running in April 2020 but the pandemic kicked off and I had to postpone the race.  By the time I eventually run, it will be just past three years since I lost Dad.

Bowel cancer is both a treatable and a curable! There are around 42,000 new bowel cancer cases in the UK every year, that is 110 new cases diagnosed every day. Bowel cancer affects both men and women and, whilst it is most common in people over 55, it can develop at any age. Dad particularly felt a very high sense of injustice that so many younger people seemed to be getting diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer. For further information on Bowel Cancer please follow this link: https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk

A contribution to Bowel Cancer UK will help them to continue providing hope and support for all those affected by a bowel cancer diagnosis. Bowel Cancer UK’s vision of a future where nobody dies of the disease is monumental.

Thank you for taking the time to read my Dad’s story. Any support would be greatly appreciated and really help keep me going on the day and long sweaty training runs in the summer heat!

Best wishes,

Adam