The C List

A cancer survivor's guide to dealing with the treatments, emotions and new normal that comes after a shocking diagnosis.

Bowel cancer, despite being the UK’s second biggest cancer killer, still receives a shockingly low level of awareness. This book aims to redress this by telling the story of a mother of two who embarked on a crash course dealing with advanced bowel cancer at the age of 45. Having absolutely no preparation, her lists help her gain control over what fast becomes an even more chaotic and unpredictable life. Her diagnosis presents a wake-up call to what’s important in life, and insists that daft and often funny things can still happen to people living with cancer. This is a memoir packed full of useful advice for making the best of your sudden situation – from learning how to deal with your new menagerie of medics to how to avoid all the usual cancer faux pas! As someone who describes herself as habitually “not doing today what I can put off till tomorrow”, Rachel shares with you all the lists you need to cope with gaining back some control from the chaos. This is the ultimate reader-friendly guide on how to deal with operation after operation, the reality of chemotherapy and, when that’s over, how to function on a daily basis with your ‘new normal’. But most importantly, it’s a record of how Rachel taught her children resilience, her number one challenge in life.

"Countless books have been written about the Big C - how to fight it, how to survive it, even how to accept it when the doctors say they can do no more, but The C List stands out from the crowd for it's originality and good humour.  

"Packed with sage advice, Rachel's lists, compiled during her cancer experiences, are funny, spot on and at times a little sad.  

"The C List offer something for everyone affected by cancer, whether they are fighting the disease themselves or are caring for someone who is.  The book's USP is that much of what Rachel wants you to know is presented in easy-to-follow lists, even if some of the lists themselves are plain bonkers!"  --Mathew Wright, The Wright Stuff

Rachel Bown is a marketing director and single mother of two children, who found, surprisingly, that one of the ‘gifts’ of discovering she had bowel cancer was her ability to write with disarming honesty and humour about her survival. Her book is based upon her highly successful blog written during the course of her treatment, and is supported by leading charities Beating Bowel Cancer and Bowel Cancer UK.