July 2023 Newsletter

Welcome back to our newsletter

We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of BBC broadcaster George Alagiah last week. In this month's edition we take a moment to celebrate his amazing contribution to our community, and his tireless ambition to raise awareness of bowel cancer screening.

Also this month we launched our new strategy, setting out clear goals towards a future where nobody dies of bowel cancer. As well, the Gary Logue Awards are open! We invite you to nominate a colorectal cancer nurse for the recognition they deserve.

Remembering George Alagiah

We were truly saddened last week when we heard our much-loved supporter George Alagiah OBE had died. Our deepest sympathies are with his family and everyone who knew and loved him.

George, who was one of the BBC's most iconic and well-loved broadcasters, was a huge advocate of our work. He supported our campaign calling on the NHS to lower the bowel cancer screening age to 50. He shared his experience of the disease to raise lifesaving awareness of the symptoms. George spoke to our wonderful supporters about living with advanced bowel cancer at events that raised thousands of pounds. He hosted our podcast where he not only gave his time and phenomenal broadcasting skills but also his incredible warmth and his personal insight into living with the disease. We'll never forget how much of his precious time he gave to us and the kindness he showed to our community during a very difficult time in his life.

We know, thanks to George's amazing awareness work, that there's a renewed focus on bowel cancer screening, and you can find out more about the screening programme here. If you'd like to hear more about George's extraordinary contribution to our work, you can read our full tribute here.

We're 'on a mission'

This month we launched our new five-year strategy, called 'On a mission'. We've consulted with patients, volunteers, clinicians and researchers to develop an ambitious plan that puts early diagnosis at its heart, while ensuring we continue to support anyone affected by bowel cancer.

We've set an ambitious milestone that by 2028, more than 7 in 10 people with bowel cancer will be diagnosed at stage 1 or 2. Right now, it's less than 4 in 10. We know this won't be easy. But we have the support of our amazing community, and we have set out four clear goals to get us to that point:

• Goal 1:?Increase awareness and understanding of bowel cancer
• Goal 2: Remove the barriers to people being diagnosed quickly, and at the earliest possible stage
• Goal 3:?Get the right treatment and care to every patient
• Goal 4:?Support people to cope better with bowel cancer

Nominate your unsung hero for an award!

Do you know an amazing colorectal cancer nurse specialist who you think should receive an award for their work, plus ￡500 towards their continuing professional development? We want to hear from you about the amazing nurses you're proud to work with or who've helped you, or a loved one, through treatment.

We set up these awards in memory of Gary Logue, to honour the contribution he made during his career. Gary worked for us as a specialist nurse advisor and sadly died in 2014.

Nominate your nurse here.

Our #GetOnARoll campaign has won an award

In other award news, our #GetOnARoll campaign that puts bowel cancer symptoms on loo roll packaging, won the Charitable Campaign of the Year at the Communiqué Awards 2023!

We're so grateful to our supporter, Cara Hoofe and to 马莎百货 for sparking the idea, all of our partners who've joined us since last summer, and of course to you, our community. The campaign was a huge success because so many of you called on your favourite supermarket to join the campaign. We couldn't have done it without you.

How we can support you

We know that when bowel cancer stories are headline news that this can have a big impact on our community. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind you of the support available to you:

• Take a look at our family, friends and carers hub on our website. This is an excellent place to find help and guidance if you're supporting a loved one through treatment
• Discover our?'An expert explores' series. Register your interest for upcoming episodes or catch up on demand with previous online support events
• Online communities – we provide safe and friendly spaces to support each other. If you feel like reaching out, please check out our online forums or Facebook groups

Get involved

If you'd like to get involved and support our work, we'd be so grateful to have you as part of #TeamBowelCancerUK. You can find out about some of the opportunities to fundraise with us this summer below:

• Brew Together – this is a great opportunity to get people together over a cup of tea! Pop the kettle on, make a cuppa and raise some money to help stop people dying of bowel cancer. Learn more and sign up here
• Swim15 - dive in next month with our swimming challenge. Every 15 minutes someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer. That's why we're asking you to #Swim15 this summer. Find out more and register now
• Walk Together – with an in-person event in London, virtual walks nationwide, and even an opportunity to get your furry friends involved with Walkies Together, it's super easy to sign up and stride into action this September

Thank you so much for your continued support, we're truly grateful.

Make sure to follow us on social media for all of our latest news and updates. You can find us on?Twitter,?Facebook,?

Instagram,?and TikTok.

With best wishes,

Genevieve Edwards

Chief Executive, Bowel Cancer UK