Lives & Times Meets Matthew Wright From Channel 5

Back in the summer of 2014, unbelievably over 3 years ago now, I met and photographed Matthew Wright for the Lives & Times book in London. Matthew is very passionate about bowel cancer having lost his own father to this awful disease, and he has been incredibly supportive of this project including writing a lovely foreword for the book. I got to see his vintage motorbikes, which are his pride and joy. We talked about his daytime show, The Wright Stuff, on Channel 5 and about his experience appearing on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. He was great fun to spend time with, and is just a really nice man!

My Mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012. Back then her bowel was successfully operated on, and the section containing the cancer was removed, but in the fours that followed she suffered from cancerous nodules on her lungs, which is a secondary cancer from the bowel and underwent four further operations to have nodules removed. Latterly the cancer spread to her brain and she experienced a number of seizures as a result. The last one put her in hospital for almost six weeks leaving her virtually paralysed down her right side and badly affecting her speech. It was while she was there that we got the devastating news that her cancer was terminal. She moved to a nursing home under a NHS continuation of care package where she received wonderful care in her final weeks. Sadly she passed away on August 29th, 2016.

Since losing Mum I have continued with the fundraising for Beating Bowel Cancer. Lives & Times was published in November 2015. Absolutely every penny I receive in royalties is being donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. The book and the limited edition Lives & Times silk screen prints have so far raised over £3400 for the charity. I am now putting together a new charity book which will be called The Record. I also do my best to help raise awareness about bowel cancer. It remains the 2nd highest cancer killer in the UK, and yet if caught early it is one of the most treatable with 5 year survival rates at over 90%.

During the summer I got to catch up with Matthew when he came to The Big Hug in London organised by the amazing Dafydd Wyn Farr-Jones to celebrate the lives of Ben Ashworth and Anne Carlin both sadly lost to bowel cancer in 2017.

Matthew Wright from The Wright Stuff Supports Bowel Cancer Charity Book

I met and photographed Matthew Wright for the Lives & Times book in London, and I got to see his vintage motorbikes which are his pride and joy. Matthew has been incredibly supportive of this project and he wrote a lovely foreword for the book. The is out now...

To find out how you can order the book click here. Absolutely every penny I receive in royalties is being donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.

My Mum has been fighting bowel cancer since 2012. Back then her bowel was successfully operated on and the section containing the cancer was removed, but she has suffered from cancerous nodules on her lungs which is a secondary cancer from the bowel. She faces another operation on December 10th to remove the most recent cancer lesion, and this will be the 4th time she has had her lungs operated on, making it 5 operations in total. She is now 79 so I have nothing but admiration for courage and determination to get through this...

Matthew Wright Sends Me A Video

As part of the promotion leading up to publication date I am going to be releasing a series of videos from participants in the book who have kindly sent me their messages. I wished that I thought of doing this whilst doing the photography as I am sure most of the people on board would have had no problem doing it at the same time. 

TV presenter and journalist Matthew Wright from The Wright Stuff on Channel 5 has been one of the biggest supporters of the book and has been a great help along the way. He has written a brilliant foreword for the book, and has just sent me his video message which is brilliant. I will be incorporating it into the promotional videos I will be putting together over the coming weeks, but have a look at it now!

Matthew Wright On His Bike

To read the introduction about the new Lives & Times book which is going raise funds for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity click here.

Television presenter Matthew Wright, from the Channel 5 programme The Wright Stuff, has been one of the most supportive people for the new fundraising book. We had great fun doing the photo in London last year, although I should add the photos I have used in the chapter in the book are minus the helmet and bowel cancer tie. Matthew sadly lost his father to bowel cancer, and is a great campaigner and supporter for bowel cancer charities including Beating Bowel Cancer. He immediately agreed to be photographed for the book when I asked him, and recently very kindly wrote a marvellous forward for it too. I spent a fascinating hour with Matthew, and his passion for bowel cancer issues is something I came to quickly admire and have complete respect for. 

I usually ask the people I photograph for a photo with the bowel cancer tie, as it gets posted on a Facebook group to help raise awareness about bowel cancer. It's interesting how different people approach this, and Matthew, for example, threw himself totally into it and had a lot of fun with it as you can tell. 

I can't believe that it is a year ago that I met Matthew to do the photo, but the wait for publication will soon be over...

The Book Foreword...

I am very pleased to announce that Matthew Wright has written a wonderful foreword for the book. It is something that I found quite moving when I read it, and I would love to share it with you on here, but you will have to buy the book when its published later this year to read it for yourself :) When it came to thinking about who to ask to do this Matthew was the obvious choice. Firstly he has a high profile which will help enhance the book's credibility, and secondly and more importantly he has a knowledge and passion about bowel cancer that shone through when I photographed him for the book. Apart from Joanne, who is editing the book for me, Matthew is the first person to get to see the book in its fully glory. It still requires more work, but I sent him a version that is mighty close to how it will be published. 

There are still a few more photos to do, but the end is definitely within sight now. Next week I am hoping to photograph Gabby Logan and Christopher Biggins. I am also hopeful that Jonathan Agnew from BBC Test Match Special will meet me, although this might have to be in a few weeks time once he returns from the West Indies tour. With Tom Rosenthal and Kylie Michelle Smith being other ones I am hoping to do that will complete the book unless any other last minute opportunities crop up.

I haven't had any success with obtaining book sponsorship yet, which is a shame as it would have been a great boost for its release, and getting copies printed and out there to those who took part and potential book reviewers etc. However I haven't given up, and if anyone out there can help please let me know.