South Gloucestershire group take on 15-hour workout for much-loved member with terminal cancer
A group of fitness-lovers in South Gloucestershire is completing a 15-hour workout challenge to honour their friend who has terminal cancer.
Mark Butcher, from Frampton Cotterell, was diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2021.
He said: “It was completely out of the blue, I had zero symptoms.”
Mark was out with friends when he got some lower abdominal pain. At first doctors thought it was Mark’s appendix, but eventually the cause was discovered.
The 45-year-old said: “They took me into a side room and told me it’s nothing to do with my appendix and that my bowel was completely blocked by a cancerous tumour which was where the pain was coming from. It had already spread to my liver.
“I had scans, I had tests. My original oncologist pretty much wrote me off completely and told me I had three to six months to live.
“We went to get a second opinion from someone who had a completely different view and proactively treated me which has got me to where I am today.”
Mark wants to stress to people the stereotypes linked to bowel cancer aren’t accurate.
He said: “Bowel cancer is traditionally pitched as an old man’s disease, but actually there’s a significant number of patients that are my age and a lot younger.
"My diet was immaculately clean, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink. The irony of getting bowel cancer wasn’t lost on me.”
Mark and his friend Dave Champion were both members of Kokoro Fitness in Yate, often there in the early hours to fit in a workout.
Mark feels his lifestyle has helped him last longer than expected through cancer treatment.
He said: “I’m convinced that level of fitness, physically but also the mental discipline, is what got me through all the surgeries and tough times, to where I am now.”
The hardest part for Mark has been thinking about the effect on his loved ones.
He said: “My thoughts throughout this haven’t really been about me, it’s been about the impact on my wife and our daughter.
“I remember coming out of hospital and us having to explain to her I’ve got cancer and what that means - that’s a conversation no parent should ever have to have and no child should ever have to hear.”
On Saturday 22 June Kokoro gym is hosting a 15-hour workout to honour Mark. The aim is to raise awareness, and money for St Peter’s Hospice and Bowel Cancer UK.
The significance of the time is because it’s a year to the day since Mark had 15-hour operation.
Before the challenge had even started at 4am, £15,000 had already been raised.
Mark said: “It’s overwhelming, the amount of support, love, messages, sponsorship and awareness… it’s just mind blowing.
“I often go and read the messages from people and end up in flood of tears. The way people have pulled together is just incredible.”
Dave has helped organise the event. He said the support has been brilliant.
“The community at the gym is incredible. It’s just amazing how people are helping in whichever way they can.
“It is overwhelming and does restore your faith in humanity a bit.
“For Mark, he’s facing his own mortality, he’s got a ticking clock.
“For him, the big day will be the funeral. People will honour him, but he’s not going to be there to see that. This day is acting more and more as a real celebration of Mark.”
The workout is set to finish at 7pm on Saturday 22 June.