Rachel Bown

I am a forty something mother of two teenagers, Joe 15 and Lois 13 and am hurtling towards 50. Yes that’s more than enough hormones in one house thank you very much! Anyway a little while ago, I wasn’t at all sure I would have the privilege of growing old and whilst there are still no guarantees, I am very much looking forward to knocking on a bit. If I can get to 52 and a half without the cancer coming back, I am cured so roll on 52 as my mother would say.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer back in July 2011 after it had spread from my bowel to my lymph and liver and I went through 3 major operations, a shed load of chemo and disappointedly after a year’s remission, a relapse. So after more liver surgery, some more patching up and thankfully no chemo this time, I am again in remission and hoping to stay that way until 2018 when I can have a nice cup of tea to celebrate.

During the long hard chemo slog I wrote a blog called Bananagiraffes which turned into a book called The C List, published by Watkins and out in the UK on 3rd April 2014.

No one is more surprised than me, having never been much of a completer finisher. But cancer does funny stuff to you.

I have never been asked for my ID not once. I was born middle aged and have grown younger as time goes by. But now I am young enough to be considered #nevertooyoung for bowel cancer and pleased to be part of this campaign to spread much needed awareness. If I can spread a little hope and get people checking their body earlier, my job is done. Thank you for reading and commenting.

www.bananagiraffes.com
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-C-List-Survived-Bowel-Cancer/dp/1780286791