A Holiday For Mum

My mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012, and to read about this fundraising project click here.

Mum is currently enjoying a two week holiday on the Greek Islands with her great friend Anne. This is mum's first trip away since she her operation at the beginning of the year to remove a secondary bowel cancer nodule from her lung. The cancer coming back after mum being 18 months in remission was a big shock, but as ever she took it on board and faced up to her 4th major cancer operation with steely determination. She has once again bounced back amazingly well, and is back to full fitness and as bonkers as ever :)

The forthcoming Lives & Times book has taken me on a remarkable journey, but I never lose sight of the reason why I am doing this. Mum has been very fortunate in that the cancer was diagnosed early, and she has received fantastic treatment from the NHS. There are many others less fortunate who tragically haven't been able to beat this awful illness. For those people out there still literally fighting for their lives, please don't give up. You have family and friends supporting you all the way as well as the bowel cancer community out there at large, of which I am one tiny part. There is much still to do to raise awareness about bowel cancer, which if caught in the early stages can be treated successfully in many cases. I hope that the book will raise some funds for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity, but I also hope that in its own way it can help publicise and raise awareness about bowel cancer.

It's an exciting week as on Wednesday I am travelling up to the ITV Studios to meet and photograph Lorraine Kelly.