A man diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2017 is taking on a 150-mile walk to raise funds for research into the condition. Jon Badger took part in two clinical trials and his latest scans indicate the tumours are inactive.
The 43-year-old said: “The only reason I’m here today, over five years post-diagnosis, is because of the clinical trials at The Royal Marsden, they have effectively given me three to four years more life than I was supposed to have and potentially a lot more. That’s incredible when, at one point, I was told I had 12 months to live."
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Jon, who lives in Hotwells, will leave on Saturday to complete the walk over six days to raise funds for cancer research. He will walk from the Bristol Haematology & Oncology Centre to the Royal Marsden in Sutton and aims to walk approximately 25 miles a day. Having worked as a head-hunter recruiting senior executives and travelling all over the country, working long hours, he said going from a busy career to being effectively retired 'was a shock'.
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He said: “I don’t try to deal with it. I just take each day as it comes. I see it as, if you wake in the morning and you can do what you want to do with your day, then get on with it and focus on that.
“The way my mind works is to worry what’s in front of me today and not what might be coming three months down the line. That’s not always easy, though, the rollercoaster of ups and downs throughout the last few years has meant dealing with the mental health aspect has been the biggest challenge for me by far.” He added his greatest worry during sleepless nights was for his wife, Emma and his mother, should he not be there to take care of them.
Jon first had symptoms about 18 months before he was diagnosed, suffering from abdominal pain and was initially diagnosed with having gastritis, but was eventually referred to a gastro specialist in Bristol. Diagnosed with bowel cancer, he underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and two operations, but when the cancer was spreading in 2019 he was referred for clinical trials.
He went through the first trial, but after that stopped working, he was moved to another trial where drugs were used as a combination therapy. At the beginning of this year, his scans were promising and he was feeling much better.
He said: “Suddenly the purpose that I had - to attend appointments at Sutton and to work towards the next treatment or scan, that’s gone, along with my job. So I was sat here wondering what to do with myself, which is where I got the idea for the walk.
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“I needed to get off my backside and do something, I needed to do some exercise. I needed to have an objective and I needed to have a challenge for the sake of my own mental health,” he said, saying the planned walk gave him back a much needed sense of purpose.
He has been training with his dog Sharky, who he says, runs happily after sheep or birds or 'anything that moves' and so cannot join him on the charity walk. Although he played football, cricket and rugby prior to his diagnosis, he said he has never done anything like the walk ahead.
Jon added: “It’s a trip that I know well, but this will be the first time I’ve done it on foot. That I can even consider doing it is entirely down to the care I have received, I am so grateful for the amount of time and resources that's gone into my care and I just want to raise as much money as possible to help others."
“After a boatload of drugs, countless scans, a handful of biopsies, some much needed hugs and a dose of pneumonia, I’m still here.” He said the tumours are still present, but a scan in February this year indicated that they are currently displaying no activity.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the walk. All the funds raised will go to Bristol Haematology & Oncology Centre and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
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