Stiff Little Fingers supporting Bowel Cancer Charity Book

Back in March 2015, I travelled to Oxford to see Stiff Little Fingers play live at the O2 Academy. Having made contact with Jake a few weeks earlier, he invited me to go and photograph the band at their sound-check before the gig. This particular photo shows Jake sporting the bowel cancer tie, which I asked many of the people in the book to do a photo with to help raise awareness about bowel cancer. It was fascinating going back stage to meet the band in their dressing room, and the gig itself was absolutely brilliant with the band playing many of their classic songs alongside tracks from their most recent studio album, No Going Back. This was a great chapter to write, as not only was it a brilliant evening, but having first seen the band play live in 1987, and buying the 'At The Edge' 7" single in 1980, there is a long history of me following the band. 

At the time of the meeting my Mum had been living with bowel cancer for three years. Although she had successfully had the tumour removed from her bowel in 2012, she also had secondary cancer on her left lung, and underwent four operations over a four year period to remove nodules. On the day that Lives & Times was published in November 2015, Mum had a seizure, and the cancer had spread to her brain. She underwent CyberKnife treatment in early 2016, but more seizures followed and her condition slowly deteriorated, and she sadly passed away in August, 2016. All proceeds raised from sales of the book are donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer, and it has raised over £3250 to date.

41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year. It is the second highest cancer killer in the UK taking 16,000 lives. Importantly, if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. Much more work needs to be done to raise awareness about this awful illness, to increase the numbers diagnosed early, and help reduce the number of deaths. There is still a stigma attached to anything related to bums and poo!

The book contains chapters on people from all walks of life, including the world of music, sport, television, and people affected by cancer.