rivers2cross

Today marks the start of bowel cancer awareness month. 30 day to raise awareness about this awful disease. I will be doing my bit during April and hopefully raising a few pennies at the same time. This year I will hopefully keep a good balance. So, whilst not ignoring loss and the devastation and pain this disease can cause, I will also focus on some of amazing people that I have become friends with and their inspirational stories. Remember, know your own body and if symptoms persist go and checked by your GP x

My reason for doing this, not just during awareness month, but pretty much every single day is for Mum x She was diagnosed with bowel cancer 12 years ago almost to the day. It was after her successful operation later in 2012 to remove the tumour from her bowel that my thoughts turned to fundraising. I was pretty naïve and knew little about cancer let alone bowel cancer. I’m still not an expert and I would never pretend otherwise. My passion and indeed strength is to raise awareness and do the fundraising.

Mum lived with bowel cancer for four and a half years. She enjoyed an 18 month period of remission during that time and even when the cancer returned it never defined her and she didn’t let it rule her life. The major operations she underwent to have nodules removed from her left lung, then latterly the lower lob on her left lung being removed and CyberKnife treatment for the brain lesions; she regarded these as a nuisance and she was much more interested in and focused on when she could start riding her horse again and when could she drive. She was fiercely independent. Sadly Mum died in 2016 and I knew almost immediately that I wanted to carry on fundraising and raising awareness about this awful disease.

So for the next 30 days during April I shall be doing just that.