I find the ‘C’ word pretty scary and all-too-common these days. Sadly for us, it became even scarier when my brother-in-law got diagnosed with Advanced Bowel Cancer in January of 2021 while my sister was heavily pregnant. It was such a shock to all of us and with Covid still prominent, we all felt pretty helpless. I feel barely any more helpful these days but I want to focus this page on the positives and what I’ve decided I can do.

I, Lindsay, a non-runner, have decided to run my first ever marathon in April 2024 before I turn 40 in the June. I decided this whilst embarking on week 3 of Couch to 5K which I’ve completed once before, so effectively will be going from Couch to Marathon in under 12 months.

In training for and running the London Marathon, my aim is to support Bowel Cancer UK with raising awareness for this horrible disease. It’s common for people/professionals to assume the symptoms of Bowel Cancer are caused by something else, particularly when the patient is young. That’s not the case and more people should be made aware of the symptoms and push for tests to aid early diagnosis.

Treatments that exist now didn’t always exist and so alongside raising awareness, I hope that the money I raise goes some way towards discovering and offering more options for treatment and helping combat this disease and the devastating effects it can have.  

If you can offer any donation, that would be amazing thank you.

A reminder of the symptoms:

• Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
• A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit
• Unexplained weight loss
• Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
• A pain or lump in your tummy

I'm running the TCS London Marathon 2024 as part of #TeamBowelCancer. They are the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. They're determined to save lives and improve the quality of life of everyone affected by bowel cancer.Your support will help stop people dying of bowel cancer by funding vital services and lifesaving research.