cancer fundraising
One of the reasons why I have written The Record, and why people tell me their story is to help raise awareness about bowel cancer, in the hope that others may not have the experiencing the agony of losing a loved one.
Chapter 10 of The Record features Deborah Alsina, who is the Chief Excutive of Independent Age. When we met in March 2018 Deborah was the CEO of Bowel Cancer UK.
The gold medal theme continues in chapter 7 of The Record with Zac Purchase-Hill who won Olympic rowing gold at Beijing in 2008. There was a bowel cancer connection to this chapter as Zac’s wife Fliss lost her grandmother to bowel cancer. Zac and Fliss had very different first records – I will leave it
In Chapter 6 of The Record I met Jeanette Chippington, who won gold in Rio in 2016 in the KL1 200m Paracanoeing. I have met quite a few gold medal winners on my travels, but this was the only time I actually got to touch an Olympic gold medal. I actually was fortunate enough to
This photo was taken at my parents grave this week. It’s a place that I always draw comfort from going to, and although it’s their resting place I always enjoy seeing the bulbs breaking through at this time of the year – a sign of new life and Spring not being too far away. It’s
Chapter 5 in The Record saw me meet Paralympian Anne Usher (nee Dickens) who won gold in Rio 2016 in the KL3 200m Paracanoeing. She was training at Dorney Lake on a beautiful, crisp, and very cold January morning in 2017. This was the first time that I had ever been to the scene of so many memorable events during London 2012.
Chapter 3 in The Record features Olympic gold medal legend Christine Ohuruogu. We met back in 2018 at the Mile End Stadium in East London. This turned to be without doubt the coldest day for any of the book meetings, so do not be deceived by my appearance in a t-shirt.
The Record opens with a chapter on the former Everton footballer, Kevin Sheedy, who is a bowel cancer survivor. We met at Everton’s training ground in February 2017, as at that time Kevin was still working at the club in charge of the Under-18 side. Going to the state-of-the-art training facilities was a fascinating and
I had originally planned to spend a weekend in Edinburgh doing a couple of photos for The Record, one of which included Gillian Wood. Sadly this was scuppered, so we had a long chat on the phone, during which I found out all about her bowel cancer, and the road to recovery including her stoma reversal.
The Record has raised over £870 since its publication, and is available as a hardback, paperback and an eBook. I wrote the book in memory of my mum who died of bowel cancer in 2016. The book took over two and half years to complete, and it contains 65 chapters and 80,000 words. It is the best thing I’ve ever done and what I am most proud of. All profits raised from sales are being donated to Bowel Cancer UK.
