Today it is my turn for a 'did you know' and hopefully this one is a little more relevant than some of Robbie's random comments. Did you know that this is BE LOUD week? Perhaps not, but it is really important so I have decided to write about it. BE LOUD is an awareness and fundraising campaign by Beating Bowel Cancer. By BEING LOUD about bowel cancer and its symptoms, dispelling the embarrassment so often associated with the disease, we can help to save lives from the second most deadly cancer in the UK.
So, why is this so important to me? It is important because bowel cancer caught early is very treatable, it doesn't have to be a killer and it doesn't have to devastate lives. My husband Eric woke one night with an acute pain in his side, at first he was told that he had a pulled muscle, then they thought it was hepatitis, but the dreadful truth was that he had bowel cancer and it had already spread to his liver. He was a fighter and if willpower and determination could have saved him he would be here now, but it couldn't and he isn't here now. It took just three months from the first sign of illness for the cancer to devastate his body and leave him unrecognisable. His final act of willpower was to survive for one more day so that he didn't die on my birthday. He was 38. We now know that his bowel cancer probably has a genetic link and our children will need to be monitored from their mid twenties onwards.
The symptoms of bowel cancer can be very slight, almost unnoticeable and they can easily be ignored because they could easily have very minor causes. The message is BE LOUD, befriend your bowel, be brave, it is good to talk about bottoms - it could save a life!
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