Bowel Cancer Awareness Month - April
Hi, my name is Jeff Tipton, and I am a member here at Waterside, just like you. When I’m not exercising at the gym, I sometimes work, as a volunteer awareness speaker, for Bowel Cancer UK, Britain’s biggest bowel cancer charity, telling people all about this disease which claims so many lives each year.
Bowel Cancer is the fourth most common cancer in England, but it is the second biggest killer averaging around 14000 deaths every year. This is a terribly sad fact, but an even sadder one is that the lives of many of those people needn’t be lost, if only they could be diagnosed earlier.
The thing is that Bowel Cancer, if diagnosed early, can easily be cured but, if caught in the later stages, it is more difficult to treat, and the survival rates are very much lower than for those diagnosed in the earlier stages of the disease.
Every year, April is designated as ‘Bowel Cancer Awareness Month’ and this year in conjunction with the Waterside, we intend to promote this special month, and subject. We are doing this in the hope that you as members might learn more about the signs and symptoms of Bowel Cancer, the risk factors associated with it, and measures which you can take in order that you might minimise those risks for yourselves, and for your friends and families.
Each one of us, I am sure, come to the Waterside to maintain our health and fitness. We need to know exactly how to use all the machines and equipment for our benefit and it’s the same for our personal health too, we also need to be aware of how our bodies work and how best to protect them.
Some of you, especially younger members, may think that none of this applies to you, as you may have heard that Bowel Cancer is predominantly an older person’s disease. This is true as most people who are diagnosed are over the age of 50. However, younger people can and do get this disease and the frightening, and little known, statistic is that around 2500 younger people in the UK are diagnosed with Bowel Cancer each year, many of them at late stage when it is very difficult to treat successfully. Bowel Cancer UK have a special information programme titled ‘Never Too Young’ which is aimed specifically at younger people as well as medical practitioners, which seeks to alert people to this vital information.
So, throughout April, you will find, around the gym, posters and leaflets giving you information on Bowel Cancer, please feel free to take them, read them and share them with others. When I am on site, I shall be wearing my ‘Bowel Cancer UK’ tee-shirts, which are either purple or bright green, so you can’t miss me, and I would be very happy to spend time with anyone who wishes to speak to me
So, why not just come and say ‘Hi’ ?
You never know, it could possibly be the most important word you ever say!
