rivers2cross

It was 18 months ago at a rather chilly at Edgbaston in Birmingham at the start of the 2017 English cricket season that I met George Dobell, the Senior Cricket Correspondent at ESPNcricinfo for The Record, my forthcoming bowel cancer charity book. I was there for the morning session of the Warwickshire versus Yorkshire match in the County Championship, and I think that after I left the heavens opened. You can’t beat the English summer! George was fantastic, a really interesting man to talk to with a great sense of humour which was never too far away either. I was in for a surprise when I got there, as he took me up to the media centre to have our chat. What a fantastic place that is, and the journalists have the most amazing view of the ground. We chatted for about an hour, and it was fascinating talking to him. I also discovered that George is a fan of my favourite band The Alarm, with ‘Spirit Of 76’ being his favourite song by them. George is actually a very keen music fan as you find out in the book when it is published next spring.

For anyone kind enough to have purchased the Lives & Times bowel cancer fundraising book will recognise Melinda Farrell. She had only just returned from covering cricket in Australia and India during our cold winter months. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of getting a photo of her and George with the bowel cancer tie.

Bowel cancer is the 2nd highest cancer killer in the UK with 16,000 people dying each year. However, if diagnosed early at stage 1, it is one of the most treatable ones with over 90% of patients surviving five years or more. This figure falls to to just 7% when diagnosed at stage 4. Therefore improving early detection is crucial to improving survival rates. My Mum died in August 2016 after living with this awful illness for four and a half years.

All proceeds raised from sales of the new book will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK, the UK’s leading bowel cancer charity.