rivers2cross

November 25th marked 11 years of my fundraising and raising awareness about bowel cancer. I would never have guessed when my Beating Bowel Cancer book was published 25/11/2012 that 11 years on I would still be here pushing the fundraising as hard as ever and receiving the continued phenomenal support from the most amazing supporters, who more importantly have become my friends x The impact this has had on my own life cannot be understated – it really has been life-changing.

Literally, I started making friendships from those early days of fundraising in 2012, and it continues to this day. It was quite unexpected and I hadn’t foreseen the outpouring of kindness and support. I thought the book would be a one off and I would disappear back to the life I had been leading. Having now spent 11 years associated with the cancer community, there cannot be a warmer, kinder, generous and loving group of people. I feel very humble to be a tiny part of the community. I have made friendships all over the world, and this rather shy person has had to come out of his shell to engage with so many amazing people. I’m am so much richer for doing so.

The friendships being made didn’t stop with the cancer community though. Fans of my favourite band The Alarm bought my second book, Lives & Times, in large numbers and once again I emerged from years of keeping myself in the background not engaging or hardly knowing a soul, to making lots of incredible new and life-lasting friendships. I can’t really put into words what this truly means to me. It led to a couple of trips to see the band in New York and I can now go to a gig pretty anywhere and be assured I will know someone there, which is just an incredible feeling to have.

Most of you will know that Mum sadly died of bowel cancer in 2016. This did mean that she got to see almost 4 years of my fundraising including the first couple of books. I firmly believe that the greatest gift she left me was the fundraising and the positive changes in me as a result x In fact, reading the introduction to Lives & Times reduced Mum to tears – I think the only time in my life I did that to her. I know that she would be proud of where the fundraising has taken me. She very much remains my main inspiration for all that I do x

Sadly, the nature of cancer has meant that over the last 11 years I’ve made friendships with people who are no longer here, not least recently with the loss of a lovely friend Laura Hopkinson. This can be particularly painful, but what these people brought to my world has been priceless and once again life-changing x There are also so many people I know who are still going through tough and difficult times with cancer (basically the shittiest of times). They still find time to find levels of love and kindness for others that are just amazing. I feel ever so blessed to know every single one of you. The most beautiful souls x Many of these incredible people I have yet to meet, but I hope that will change in as many cases as possible. But even when it isn’t possible to meet in person, one of the massive positives of social media is being able to develop new wonderful friendships ❤

This is not an anniversary to celebrate. I think it’s good to be able to acknowledge it and especially thank everyone for all the support. You have helped me raise somewhere between £15,000 to £20,000 over the last 11 years. As I have said I couldn’t put a price on the benefits its had on me as a human being x

I have no intention of stopping what I am doing. As well as raising funds, I’ve also come to appreciate the importance of raising awareness about bowel cancer. Early diagnosis is key as survival rates are so much better when cancers are detected early. Many of my new friendships have been with younger people affected by bowel cancer, who sadly seem to be diagnosed at later stages and have their symptoms ignored and being regarded as too young to get bowel cancer. I am determined to do what I can to help get this false perception changed.

So to anyone who has bought something from me over the last 11 years I am deeply grateful This rivers2cross.com website has done well over 1000 transactions alone . The support means the absolute world to me. I shall keep doing my best to do whatever I can x