rivers2cross

I met Dafydd Wyn Farr-Jones at the start of 2019 for Chapter 17 of The Record, my fundraising book for Bowel Cancer UK. I’ve known Daf for some years on social media, and had first met him and his partner Russell about 18 months ago in London, so it was great to catch up with them again.

There was plenty to talk to Daf about. He has had bowel cancer, and has done some incredible fundraising for Beating Bowel Cancer, and now Bowel Cancer UK (Beating Bowel Cancer Together). It almost went disastrously wrong as we ended up separately at two different pubs in Kent both called The Plough! Everyone featured in the book has told me about the first record they bought, and Daf’s first record is brilliantly awful!

Daf and Russell were very keen to meet Prince, who came along as he does to so many of these meetings, and he made two new friends very quickly. Daf has been a great supporter of all my fundraising endeavours over recent years, and he is constantly coming with ideas to help me with promotion for which I am very grateful.

The Record was written in memory of my mum who died of bowel cancer in August 2016. All profits are donated to Bowel Cancer UK, and over £920 has been raised to date. I am hoping to reach £1000 during 2020. Click here to see all the ways to order a copy of the book.

Bowel cancer claims 16,000 lives in the UK, and is the second biggest cancer killer. However if caught early at stage 1 it is very treatable, and the five year survival rate is over 90%. When detected at the late stage 4 the five year survival rate drops dramatically to 7%. This shows how crucial early diagnosis is to getting a better outcome. Knowing the symptoms is so important.