rivers2cross

Four years ago on June 13th, 2020 Kelly Smith @Kickasskell died of bowel cancer. In 12 years of bowel cancer fundraising and raising awareness I’ve met (in Kelly’s case not in person) some of the most incredibly special souls and Kelly was right up there… It was the late Deborah bowel babe James who suggested that I contact Kelly while I was meeting people for my fundraising book, The Record. Kelly’s contribution to the book was immense, as not only did she take part in the book talking about her life before and during bowel cancer, but she also wrote the perfect and quite wonderful foreword for the book. Sadly, I never got to meet Kelly in person, but she was always extremely kind and supportive of what I was doing even when she was going through the most difficult of times. She was one of life’s brightest shining lights, a beautiful soul inside and out, and an amazing inspiration to many. She is greatly missed x

Kelly’s post from May 2019 on Instagram after she’d received her copy of The Record put things across in true kickasskell style. It always serves as a reminder to me as to why I continue do the fundraising and raising awareness about bowel cancer. The work that Kelly’s parents Mandy and Craig, have done and continue to do since Kelly’s death to highlight the awful way Kelly’s treatment was stopped during the pandemic and to try and stop it happening to others has been so inspiring and something that Kelly would be so incredibly proud about. My thoughts today are with Kelly’s family and friends xx

One of my proudest moments as I go through the experience of this shitty disease!! Want to know what I have to say from the heart on the UK’s second biggest cancer killer? Want to hear my story from the beginning? Want to see lots of celebrities views on how it’s impacted their lives? From Basil Brush to Victoria Derbyshire, the legend Billy Ocean or even Jules Peters?! Hear real life stories happening right now!! Purchase this book at rivers2cross.com and ALL funds raised will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK #bowelcancer #raisingawareness #therecord Kelly Smith – May 2019

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. More and more young people are being diagnosed with bowel cancer, especially at stage 4, so it’s vital they are not dismissed when they present their symptoms to GPs.