I am running the Cardiff Half Marathon in October 2019 to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK and show my support for the bowel cancer patients that I treat, as part of my role as a trainee Colorectal Surgeon at Cardiff & Vale Health Board.

I will be starting a research fellowship in August which aims to improve the detection and treatment of bowel cancer at an early stage. The fellowship is part of Bowel Cancer UK’s partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons of England to develop the surgical research leaders of tomorrow and continue developing improvements in high-quality treatment for patients. My fellowship is funded by the Moondance Bowel Cancer Project, which aims to transform the five year bowel cancer survival rates in Wales within a decade.

I see a lot of bowel cancer patients and their families ‘on the shop floor’, and wanted to do something different for them. I’ve always been a keen runner, my whole family are, and that’s why running the Cardiff Half Marathon was the perfect way to raise awareness of the disease as well as giving something back to the bowel cancer community.

Bowel cancer just isn’t talked about enough, it’s not like the other cancers – there is still a taboo surrounding it. By talking about the disease we can encourage people to spot the symptoms and visit their GP if they’re concerned.

With a young family, in my last year of registrar training and starting my fellowship next month, life is a little hectic to say the least. My training for the half marathon has been slow – I’m only managing to run 5ks, however I’m sure the summer evenings will help to squeeze in longer runs. I’ve never run a half marathon race before so I’m very excited about the challenge.