During the Summer, my father, David Cook, was found to have Bowel Cancer and it appears he has been relatively lucky in some respects.

His superstar GP, Robert Logan, identified the possible risk through an iron deficiency and sent him for tests at the end of July. He met his Consultant at Craigavon Hospital in he middle of August and by the end of the month had had a colonoscopy. A CT Scan in the first week of September, another Consultant appointment to get the results a week later and the operation on Septermber 22.

The NHS identified the risk and the operation was done within 8 weeks. Dont listen to irresponsible fear-mongering journalist types (ahem, I'm not one of them) who tell you its in crisis. The NHS is dead on.

Dad's consultant has told him the major risk from the cancer has passed for the time being and the whole family is very thankful. He's back on his feet and still smiling.

Dad is lucky because the cancer was caught very early. Every 15 minutes someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK. It’s the 2nd biggest cancer killer, however, if caught early enough 90% of patients can be successfully treated.

Approximately 16,000 people will die this year from the disease.

I'm taking part in Decembeard which is a fundraising effort for Beating Bowel Cancer which offers bowel cancer patients and their families, support, hope and reassurance.

I'm going to bypass Christmas gifts this year in exchange for people supporting this effort. My problem is that because my facial hair is a bit rubbish, I will look increasingly ridiculous as the month goes by.

I'm delighted to use the powers of self-deprecation to highlight the issue of early diagnosis - hopefully my daily updates will get a few people thinking about the disease and its symptoms.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity.

Just Giving takes 5% of the total raised to cover the costs of its platform, but it manages the Gift Aid process on behalf of the charity, liaising with HMRC to make sure its all properly accounted for. Gift Aid in effect gives the charity another 25% on top of the donation.

Thank you for reading this far and please press the Donate button.

Happy Christmas, Johnny