A father from Machen who was diagnosed with stage two bowel cancer has released a book talking about his experiences with the condition.
Stephen Eastcott, was diagnosed with the disease in July 2017 at the age of 60 and finished treatment in June 2018.
The book, called It’s All in the Bag, is written as a diary-style account of Mr Eastcott’s experience, with the book title coming from the author’s concerns with the prospect of living with a colostomy bag.
In the book, Mr Eastcott talks about his diagnosis, treatment, emotions and the support received from his wife Shan, daughter Samantha, and friends.
Mr Eastcott said: “I got diagnosed on a Thursday and on Sunday night I was on my own.
“I was looking at myself in the mirror and I was crying my heart out thinking ‘I’m gonna die’ and thinking of not seeing my daughter grow up a little bit further, getting married and not being with her and with my wife.
“I was just crying to myself and I thought: ‘Hold on a minute’, I’ve got to do something to get a hold of myself, to be in control and be not emotional.”
He added: “Firstly, I would record what I have gone through. Secondly it will focus my mind, it will make it more objective and perhaps less emotional. And hopefully if I can publish, it might spur on someone else.”
Mr Eastcott is hoping that “someone may be prompted to get themselves checked out sooner rather than later, if they have a suspicion of something is not quite right”.
He said: “For me it could have been avoided if I went back to my doctors and got myself a second or a third time. I wouldn’t develop cancer and we would avoid going through what my family and friends went through.”
His first novel, New Pews for Sunday, was published in July last year.
He said: “It was significant to me to do something which would be lasting and to say ‘I was here’, that I didn’t just come and go.”
Mr Eastcott’s memoir is available from Amazon as a paperback or as an e-book on Kindle.