rivers2cross

Travelling to Glasgow a couple of years ago to meet STV presenter Laura Boyd was the furthest I travelled to meet anyone for The Record. I had originally approached Laura to be in my previous fundraising book Lives & Times, but unfortunately we weren’t able to make that happen, so I was delighted to get the opportunity this time around.

Laura was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2009, and she is about to mark the 10th anniversary of in her own words “being alive and just grateful to be here”. She epitomises the positivity and living life to the full that I have seen in so many people with cancer. This will be reflected in the photo that I’ve used in the book, which is not the photo that I had originally planned to use…

We met at Kelvingrove Park in the centre of Glasgow, which was somewhere where I could safely park with my dogs. Our midday meeting also allowed me to make a brief visit to Balloch Castle on Loch Lomond in the morning, which was a great location suggested by Laura.

Laura was lovely to talk to, and was very relaxed for the photos, which made my job, both enjoyable, and very straight forward. Laura’s first record is an absolute belter! I’d like to thank her for all her support, and it’s a great chapter in the book.

The Record has been written in memory of my mum, who died in August 2016, four and half years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. All funds raised from sales will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK. The book will also help raise awareness about this awful illness, which is the second highest cancer killer in the UK. 16,000 people die every year. However, if detected early at stage 1 it is very treatable in over 90% of cases. This figure drops to just 7% when detected at the late stage 4, so raising awareness is so important.

The Record is available in paperback, hardback and eBook formats from rivers2cross.com and all online book retailers. The book has already raised over £600, and I’m very grateful to everyone who has kindly bought a copy. To see all the ways you can buy the book please click here.