“I decided to raise money for Bowel Cancer Australia as a tribute to my late father, Dr. John Mackenzie-Smith. It is a predominantly positive story.
I pledged to ride 1000km on my old mountain bike over a two-month period and give up alcohol for two months (alcohol being a risk factor in developing bowel cancer). I raised over $1000 from the contributions of family and friends.
Dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer at age 38. He was operated on (back in the 70s) and made a good recovery. Throughout his life, he had regular screening but still had bowel cancer two or three more times, bladder cancer, and many, many skin cancers: basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. (It does get positive, I promise!).
Previously, we lost our paternal grandmother (aged 46) to bowel cancer, as well as a great aunt. We discovered that our family has Lynch syndrome. My father had an even more rare variant called Muir-Torre syndrome.
My three older sisters have been tested, and unfortunately one has Muir-Torre syndrome and has also had bowel cancer and skin cancer. This sister of mine is quite courageous and strong.
The positive news is that because of the wonderful medical fraternity in Australia and my father’s determination, we were able to have Dad around until the ripe old age of 86. In that time, he became a lecturer in education, a reputable historian, a doctor (PhD), a father of four, a grandfather to many, and a great grandfather to many, many more.
We were able to share valuable times and memories with Dad that could have very easily been erased (had the doctors not detected his various cancers and eradicated them). We are grateful for the time we had with our father and never, ever took it for granted. He realised that he had lost his mother so early in life and was determined to do everything he could to live a vital, loving life. Many others, unfortunately, haven’t had the chance. We lost Dad to complications after a major stroke in 2022. We are eternally grateful for the life Dad had.
Thank you also to wonderful organisations like Bowel Cancer Australia.” ~ Charles.
If you were inspired by Charles' amazing fundraising efforts and would like to support Bowel Cancer Australia through a community fundraiser get in touch with us through our webform.