For Richard's full personal story, please see the following link: https://occtopus.org.uk/uncategorized/patient-story-richards-journey/.

Richard Howard, 74, is climbing Mount Snowdon following a new love for living each day to the fullest after recovering from cancer treatment.

Richard, from Moreton on Marsh, first noticed that something wasn't right aged 69, when his bowel habits changed and he noticed blood in his stools. He was soon booked in for a colonoscopy where it was confirmed that he had bowel cancer.

The father of four then went through several rounds of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat the cancer, and experienced other major health issues along the way including pneumonia, treatment related diabetes, an insertion of a stoma bag and two pulmonary embolisms.

Despite nearly two years of very poor health, Richard has now had the stoma bag removed and is feeling well enough to climb the highest mountain in Wales, raising money for the Oxford Colon Cancer Trust, nicknamed Occtopus, the charity that helped him during his bowel cancer journey.

The 1,085 meter high mountain will take roughly six hours to climb, with Richard being accompanied by his two sons, Ben and Josh, who are encouraging him to live life again after his grueling treatment.

Talking about the climb, Richard said: “In 2022, I started to live my life again and wanted to pay back my immense thanks to the incredible team at Occtopus who helped me through my cancer journey and to the incredible NHS Consultants for giving me this new lease of life.

“When I contracted pneumonia during my treatment, the medical experts and my family did not think I would make it through the night, but here I am, and I want to challenge myself and live life to the fullest now that I can.

“An old friend said to me “live each day like it is your last” which I intend to do because one day it will be! So that is why I am doing this… with a lot of persuasion from my sons! This won’t be easy for me due to my weak health, but I want to do it to help spread awareness of the work Occtopus does and to encourage people to take the symptoms of bowel cancer seriously and get advice straight away if you notice anything unusual.”

Oxford Colon Cancer Trust is a very practical charity. Our byline is “making new treatments happen”. Whilst national high profile charities fund work on how cancer cells go wrong, OCCTOPUS has a more immediate focus.

Originally formed in 2003 it aims to fund practical advances in treatment, education and research in these areas - the 3 “C’s” Colorectal cancer, Colitis and Crohns, and Continence.

We help the colorectal team at the Oxford University Hospitals keep right up to date with and even ahead of advances in tools and techniques.