rivers2cross

Looking back over the years at some of the previous fundraising ideas it’s interesting to see how well they’ve performed. There has only been one item that was not a great success, and that was the Check Your Poo T-Shirt. I didn’t manage to sell any of these – I actually love the design, which was produced in both ladies and men’s styles, and thought the toilet humour was a great way of raising awareness about bowel cancer.

With hindsight I don’t think I timed it very well, as I rather rushed them out during the lead up to the new book being published. It is one of my impulsive traits, where once I get an idea into my head I can’t seem to stop myself until it comes to fruition.

The idea behind these t-shirts was to raise awareness about bowel cancer with all profits raised donated to Bowel Cancer UK. Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK. 16,000 people die each year. However, if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. Early diagnosis is vital. Diagnosed at stage 1 the five-year survival rate is at over 90%, whereas the figure is only 7% at stage 4. At the moment only 15% of cases are detected at stage 1. This message still needs to be repeated, and I thought the t-shirts were a great way of helping to do that, and a bit of fun at the same time.

The t-shirts are still available from the rivers2cross.com/shop and cost £15 including postage and packaging.