There's something about Kevin

When I got my first job in advertising, I was absolutely thrilled. I worked at a fantastic agency, and developed friendships that endure to this day. What made it particularly wonderful, was that I worked with the loveliest people. One of whom, was Kev. One half of a creative team, Kev was a gifted, witty and genuine man; a superb writer and all-round good guy. He was absolutely dedicated to his family, and he and his creative partner always spoke in such glowing terms about their wives, and in Kev's case, his girls, that it provided me with a blueprint for my future relationships. He was always the last on the dancefloor at awards events and often had to face the wrath of waiting taxi drivers. Also, in the office he used to sing and whistle infectious tunes that you couldn't shake off all day.

So why am I telling you all this?

Well, Kev had cancer, a cancer that he eventually died of. When we worked together first time round, someone had mentioned that he had cancer, and I noticed that he had made modifications to his office chair, as I believe he suffered from back pain. Although I had an Uncle that died of cancer when I was young, and a cousin who died from cancer before I was born, I had limited experience of what a devastating effect cancer can have. When we worked together a second time, I was slightly more aware that Kev had to work from home sometimes after radiotherapy treatments, but I only found out afterwards that he had been given a projection about how long he had to live. Amazingly, with all this going on, he always maintained an upbeat mood and never once complained about his condition.

When Kev died, I wanted to do something in his memory. I applied for a voluntary role at my local Early Detection of Cancer service. My role was (ironically as it happens) to go out into the community and talk to people about the three most common cancers (breast, brain and bowel) and advise them to seek help if they were exhibiting any symptoms.

I truly believe that this helped to save my life. The training included a video of an early stage cancer (which looked like a small white pea), and then an advanced cancer that had wrapped itself around the entire bowel, making it impossible to operate on. I will never forget that image, and made a firm note to self that if I ever had any suspicious symptoms that I would act quickly.

Well, as regular readers of this blog know, I did have suspicious symptoms, I did act quickly and I'm still here to tell the tale. I told Kev's wife that he saved my life. He could save yours too. So don't ignore the signs, listen to your body and go straight to the GP if you identify any changes (even subtle ones). It's part of his legacy and I hope, part of mine.

Amanda