It was an early
start for me as I had been asked by Chris Geiger (author of the Cancer
Survivors Club) to join him for a radio interview on BBC Radio Bristol’s
morning show with Steve Le Fevre.
I met Chris
as agreed at the studio on Whiteladies road and Chris who knew the site well
led the way. As a regular listener to the show whilst commuting to and from
work it was interesting to see how it was all done. We waited outside the main
studio in a large office filled with banks of computers used by the reporting
staff. Directly outside the studio sat Jemma Cooper who presents the weather
updates on both the radio and local BBC news so we passed the time of day with
her. Chris and Jemma knew each other and they talked about the various things
they had going on.
We were soon ushered into the studio. There
was a main room with a large desk in the middle I guess where the producing
staff sat and immediately to the left was a sound proofed room from which the
show was being broadcast. We were briefed by the producer as to what would
happen and that we needed to enter and leave the room as quietly as possible.
Very quickly we were ushered in and waited quietly whilst the guest in front of
us did the “Thought for the Day” slot.
Then it was our turn. Steve sat at a large
table with loads of radio equipment on and a microphone on an arm in the
middle. We sat on the end of the table on two office chairs with desk mounted microphones.
The interview was fairly brief but I believe we got our point across well
discussing both my story with Psuedomyxoma and also the Cancer Survivors book.
You can
hear the clip by clicking the link below and forwarding the slide bar to the
2hrs 20min position.
It was soon
all over and job done. I briefly chatted with Chris and Jemma again before
saying goodbye and agreeing to see each other later that night for the book
launch at Foyles book shop.
The rest of
the day was busy as we did the usual running around. I collected the girls from
school and they quickly got changed before we all jumped into the car and
headed into Bristol. The plan was to get the girls a dress each ready for the
upcoming Christmas parties and then get some dinner before heading to the book
launch.
We met mum and Dad quite by chance on our way
to the bookshop and were joined by a close family friend Kevin. We headed
upstairs and at the rear of the room was an area lined with seats and already
quite busy. I said hello to both Chris and Catherine who were greeting people
on their way in and introduced them to the family. Catherine remarked that it
was great to finally meet them as she had read so much about them!
Everyone was soon seated and Chris took to the
stage to talk about the book. In total there were nine of the twenty three
people featured in the book at the launch as they all lived in the Bristol
area. It was clear from Chris’s speech that he was very passionate about the
book and his cause; trying to help people and give them hope by gathering and
producing the inspirational stories inside. His speech was touching, reducing
some listeners to tears, inspirational and funny and he really got his message
across well. Its Chris’s dream that he can help others by sharing inspirational
stories and that this is just the start of something bigger and that the “ambassadors”
featured in the book as he calls us can help him create a butterfly effect that
start as a small beating of our wings to create a big positive effect elsewhere
in the world.
The Cancer Survivors Club Book.
Chris Geiger and nine of the Cancer Survivors Club Ambassadors.
Chris presenting me with my copy of The Cancer Survivors Club book.
He presented each of the nine ambassadors with
a signed copy of the book marked with an inscription and numbered with our
membership number to the Cancer Survivors Club. I’m number 17, hopefully many
more will join us in the years that follow.
The proceeds from the book are donated to
cancer charities across the country to help them help people like me. The book
is truly inspirational with amazing stories which are sometimes sad but also
with their comedy moments and is a great read. They would make the perfect Christmas
gift for someone, so go on, buy one, be inspired and help raise funds for
cancer charities.
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