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During these uncertain times that we all seemed to be have living in for so long now, I just wanted to send a massive shout out to the wonderful bowel cancer community. I’ve made so many amazing friends, and I’ve always received brilliant support for all my fundraising efforts. So many of them came together to support my charity book published in 2019.

When I began writing The Record after Mum’s death in 2016 the first thing I decided was to approach the bowel cancer community to support the book. I didn’t want the book to be purely about bowel cancer, but I was not going to shy away from the subject matter either. After all I had just lost my mum to this awful disease, I was dedicating the book to her memory, and I set out with purpose of producing a book that would raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK. I can’t thank these amazing people for their support. I ended up with chapters that are funny, sad, and informative in equal measures, and these chapters are the beating heart of The Record.

The wonderful foreword was written for me by Kelly Smith, who also features in a chapter in the book. Kelly had stage 4 bowel cancer, and tragically died in June last year. She remains a massive inspiration. In spite of going through an incredibly tough time she continued to support so many people affected by cancer to the end, and did so much amazing work in raising awareness about bowel cancer. Kelly was aged just 28 when she was diagnosed, confirming that you are never too young to get bowel cancer.

Lauren Backler’s mum died of bowel cancer in 2015 aged 56. If the bowel cancer screening age had been 50 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to match Scotland instead of being 60, her mum would have been scanned, and Lauren believes would still be alive today. Lauren started an online petition to get the screening age reduced to 50, and as a result of the half a million signatures the government announced that the screening age would be reduced. However, no date has been set for implementation, so Lauren continues with her campaign and will not rest until it is implemented. Lauren and her partner Hayden have become proud parents of their son Edison.

Gina Shergold’s husband Steve died aged just 33 in 2015. Steve was diagnosed with bowel cancer shortly after they discovered Gina was pregnant with Esmée, who Gina described as a wonderful legacy. A quite remarkable lady who has been through so much. The good news is Gina and her partner Ben have had a son Rocky, who is a little brother for Esmée.

By a strange quirk of fate The Record features two young women both called Deborah James. Sadly Deborah Louise James died not long after we met in 2017. She was just 37 years old. We’d been in contact on social media for a couple of years, and she was one of the first people I approached to be in the book. She was a lovely person, and although her prognosis wasn’t great she was doing so well when we met – her death came as a terrible shock. The chapter was kept in the present tense, and Deborah got to see it before she died.

Deborah “Bowel Babe” James has stage 4 bowel cancer. The former teacher is now a writer and broadcaster, and has done a huge amount to raise awareness about bowel cancer, and bring conversations about bowel cancer into the mainstream and our daily lives. She has also raised a vast amount of money for various cancer charities. In the chapter I describe her as a human whirlwind, and she lives every minute of every day to the full. Deborah talked to me in great depth about her life with cancer, and I learnt a great deal about the illness from her.

Deborah Alsina MBE is the former CEO of Bowel Cancer UK. Deborah’s father died of bowel cancer, and she has been a wonderful person to lead the charity forward. Deborah has become a wonderful friend to so many patients and their families. You cannot hep but be inspired when you spend time in her company. She is now doing amazing work as the CEO for the national older person’s charity Independent Age

I met Greg Gilbert, who has stage 4 bowel cancer, and his wife Stacey Heale in Southampton. Greg is the singer with the band Delays, and he is also a fine artist and poet. The cover for The Record is one of Greg’s paintings, which I am now the proud owner of. Stacey gave up her job as a university lecturer to care for Greg, and she is now a writer and speaker. After Greg was diagnosed his treatment options on the NHS were limited, so Stacey set up an online fundraising campaign to raise money for Greg’s treatment.

Olivia Rowlands was aged 29 when was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Her blog and presence on social media has helped raise awareness about bowel cancer, and has been a great source of support for a lot of people. Unfortunately our scheduled meeting at St. Andrews was cancelled after her mum arranged a surprise trip to Dublin, but I’m sure our paths will cross at some point in the future. Liv has recently returned to work and had clear scan results. She and her partner Sam recently had their first child, a daughter Monica, through the wonders of surrogacy with the wonderful support of Liv’s cousin.

I was also due to meet Gillian Wood on the trip to St. Andrews. We ended up meeting in Llandudno at The Gathering to see The Alarm, and have become firm friends. The friendships I’ve made through my fundraising has been a massive positive for me. Gillian has recovered from bowel cancer and a stoma reversal, so it’s been a tough few years for her. She is now quite active on social media raising awareness about bowel cancer, and supporting those going through it.

Sean Fletcher is a freelance television presenter, who can be seen on Good Morning Britain, Countryfile, and Songs of Praise, to name but a few. At our meeting in London Sean spoke about his mother who died of bowel cancer, and how she kept her illness hidden from him.

I met Kevin Sheedy the former Everton and Republic of Ireland footballer at Everton’s training ground. At the time of our meeting he was coaching the Under-18 side. He has made a full recovery from bowel cancer, and by raising awareness about bowel cancer he has helped others getting checked and diagnosed at an early stage, which is so important in being successfully treated.

Steve Clark is living with stage 4 bowel cancer. He has passed the 7-year mark, and falls into the 7% category of stage 4 bowel cancer patients who live for five years or more with the disease. His most recent scans showed no evidence if disease. I’ve been fortunate to meet Steve a few times, and he has always been encouraging and a great support.

Nicole Cooper lives in Melbourne, so we had to have our chat over the internet on video. However, we did finally meet on her 2019 family holiday to Europe when she was in London for a few days. Nicole’s initial stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis was that her condition was inoperable. She went to see another oncologist who said that there was a small window of opportunity and her treatment plan would involve exercise. Nicole has recently completed another gruelling course of chemotherapy and has undergone numerous major surgeries. She is a another hugely inspiring individual living her life with bowel cancer.

I met Richard and Sarah Haugh just outside Reading, making it one of the few local meetings and photographs for The Record. Richard’s bowel cancer was detected after being screened in Scotland where screening begins at 50. If the couple had been living in England, where the screening is is still at 60, he would not have screened, and might well not have had his cancer detected to a much later stage. Sarah spent five years working on the Beating Bowel Cancer online forum as a moderator, and was a founder and sole moderator on the very successful ‘relative to relative support’ group on the charity’s forum.

Dafydd Wyn Farr-Jones has been a great support to me with my fundraising for a number of years, and has also helped me with contacting a number of people for this book and Lives & Times my previous one. Daf was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2009 aged just 26, and does an amazing amount of work fundraising and raising awareness about bowel cancer, and is a wonderful friend to many in the bowel cancer community.

Of course this barely scratches the surface. There are so many amazing and wonderful people involved in this community. It would have been impossible to have met everyone, but the people I met epitomise everything good that comes out of bowel cancer, which is such a wretched disease.

The Record is out now, and all proceeds raised from sales are donated to Bowel Cancer UK with over £1000 has been raised so far. You can order the book from my online store or from any good online retailer. Charities like Bowel Cancer UK have seen a massive reduction in their income, so all support for the book is greatly appreciated.

The book also features many famous people from the worlds of television, music and sport including Kim Wilde, Sian Lloyd, Bill Turnbull, Christine Ohuruogu, Victoria Derbyshire, Nick Robinson, Gail Porter, David Baddiel, Gregg Wallace, Billy Ocean, Steve Norman, Steve Hackett and Amy Macdonald to name just a few.

Click here to see all the ways you can order The Record.