What I’ve been listening to recently…

“The coolest club you never want to be a part of…”

Like many others, I have been following the story of Dame Deborah James (otherwise knows as Bowel Babe), who is one of the founders of this podcast, about living with cancer, treatment and related topics. The other two cancer patients who started the podcast with her are Lauren Mahon and the late Rachael Bland who described it as “a space where you feel like you’re sitting down with girls like you, having a cup of tea, talk about it like it’s EastEnders”. Rachael’s widower Steve Bland now hosts the podcast with Lauren and Deborah.

The podcasts have previously covered topics such as “Getting Men Talking”, “Hitting Rock Bottom”, “The Fear of Recurrence” as well as topics that are often avoided such as sex and cancer, second opinions, dating and relationships, palliative care and death. More recently the podcast has been focusing on Deborah’s days in hospital, her treatment and operations. Sadly, at the beginning of May 2022 Deborah announced that her body is no longer “playing ball” and her active treatment has stopped as she moves to hospice at home care.

The podcast is an emotional listen and has taken me back to the days when my husband was in the hospice with the medics focusing on pain control and the uncertainty of knowing how much longer there is left with loved ones. One of her last big goals has been to set up the Bowel Babe Fund, to raise money to fund clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients and supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer. For those who want to support this, by donating the cost of a drink for Bowel Babe, they can do so through her JustGiving page.

My one piece of advice with this podcast is to make sure that you look after yourself when listening to it. It is so important to talk about death, dying and illness but it can trigger many emotions for people. Please make sure that you know what you need and that you are kind to yourself if you listen to this because it is tear-jerking and heart-breaking stuff.

Podcast: You, Me and the Big C: Putting the Can in Cancer

Instagram accounts: @bowelbabe & @bowelbabefund

Website: www.bowelbabe.org