Colons, clinics, chemo and (quite a lot of) cake

“This is not a ‘misery memoir. Neither is it an, ‘I’ve got bowel cancer and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me’ book. It is about the daft and sometimes funny things that happen to people living with cancer and useful tips for making the best of it.”

Both funny and poignant, vividly describes Rachel’s battle with cancer and the absurd situations she finds herself in – from a brutally flippant surgeon to her latest fashion accessory, a colostomy bag, to embarking on a project to build a 40ft-banana giraffe on the roof of her house.

If you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer, this is a memoir from a bowel cancer survivor packed full of useful advice for making the best of your sudden situation – from learning how to deal with your new menagerie of medics to how to avoid all the usual cancer faux pas! As someone who describes herself as habitually “not doing today what I can put off till tomorrow”, Rachel Bown shares with you all the c lists you need to cope with gaining back some control from the chaos.

This is the ultimate reader-friendly guide on how to deal with operation after operation, the reality of chemotherapy and, when that’s over, how to function on a daily basis with your ‘new normal’. But most importantly, it’s a record of how Rachel taught her children resilience, her number one challenge in life.

Bowel cancer is the second-biggest cancer killer in the UK and US, but there is still a shockingly low level of public awareness about it. Rachel offers you all the nuggets of information she picked up form hundredths of sources along the way, including questions you should as your surgeon, the best treats whilst on chemo, things to look out for in a blood test, and how not to react when someone tells you they have cancer.

About Rachel Bown

‘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.’