Lives & Times Book Helping to Beat Bowel Cancer

There are now 11 days to go until the Lives & Times fundraising book for Beating Bowel Cancer is published on November 27th. The main purpose of the book is to help beat bowel cancer. You can see all the ways to pre-order it by clicking here.

The basic facts are that bowel cancer is the 2nd biggest cancer killer in the UK, and 41,000 people are diagnosed with it each year, and it claims 16,000 lives. If diagnosed early 90% of cases can be treated successfully. Whilst it is more common to affect people over 50, it is increasingly affecting younger people.

The symptoms can include a persistent change in bowel habit, bleeding from the bottom, abdominal pain, a lump in your tummy and unexplained weight loss.

Risk factors include a high intake of saturated fats, processed or red meat. Drinking more than 4 units of alcohol per day, being overweight, and having an immediate relative with bowel cancer all could increase the chances of being affected by it.

To reduce the risk eat or healthy diet with plenty of fruit, regular exercise to reduce weight, cut down on alcohol, and be aware of any change in bowel habits. My Mum recognized a change in her bowel habit and when she was sent to have an endoscopy the bowel cancer was discovered.

It was only when the first book, Beating Bowel Cancer, was published back in 2012 did I begin to realize how important raising awareness is, and it wasn't just purely about selling copies to raise money for the charity. It was pointed out to me that the articles about the book that appeared in the local papers would be good for raising awareness regardless of how many book sales they generated. Since then my aim now has been to sell as many books as possible raising funds for the charity, but each time either book gets bowel cancer mentioned in the media, on social networks or even in normal conversations then hopefully it is playing its part in raising awareness.

Sadly too many people are lost to this illness, and if Lives & Times can play any part in raising awareness about bowel cancer, saving just one life, then all the efforts in putting it together over the last 18 months will have been worthwhile.