Beating Bowel Cancer is the support and campaigning charity for everyone affected by bowel cancer.  They provide vital practical and emotional help – on the phone, digitally and face to face. They campaign tirelessly to raise awareness of bowel cancer and ensure people get the highest quality care. Decembeard is Beating Bowel Cancer’s annual initiative to get men to drop their shaving utensils! So, why bother and what is it all about?
Bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer and someone is diagnosed every 15 minutes. Yet if diagnosed early, more than 90% of cases can be treated successfully. That’s why it’s so important to be aware of the symptoms and act on them.  Every December, the charity encourages men to grow a beard, raise funds and help us beat bowel cancer.  They need 5,000 men to grow beards and raise £500,000 to fund Beating Bowel Cancer’s vital services.
Anyone experiencing one or more of these symptoms for three weeks or more should go and see their GP:

• Bleeding from the bottom or blood in your poo
• A persistent change in bowel habit
• Abdominal pain
• A lump in your tummy
• Unexplained weight loss or tiredness

Our health assessor Oliver Barnard wanted to do something that he doesn’t like for charity and to raise awareness of a cancer that claims nearly 50 lives a day. He had his last shave yesterday!  You can sponsor Oliver be visiting www.justgiving.com/oliver-barnard.  We will be tracking Oliver’s progress on the website over the next 4 weeks!
For further information and support visit our website beatingbowelcancer.org.  To sign-up and grow your fuzz visit http://www.decembeard.org/.
For details on bowel screening kits for your employees, please contact one of the HP Team on 01295 230120 or email team@healthyperformance.co.uk.