This Tuesday would have been my Father's 79th birthday. Sadly he passed away in 2005 after a long fight with bowel cancer. If he had visited his doctor earlier he may have seen this birthday.

If you are in your fifties ask for a Faecal Occult Blood test. It is a very useful and easy to perform screening tool for the disease. Then the disease can be detected before it becomes symptomatic and is thus well advanced.

Eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables

Drink only moderate amounts of alcohol

Go easy on the steak.

Take regular exercise (walking is heavily underated!)

It is a statement of the bleedin' obvious that your parents are important people in your life. However I wanted to leave you with a pearl of wisdom from my Father and naturally there is a heap of them. I wanted to select one that sticks out. Once again a lot came to mind but I will give you this one because it has helped me in my dealings with my own children

Soon after I had bought our first house myself and my now ex wife had invited my parents over for a meal. It was at teh end ofthe meal that I was in the kitchen washing up with my Dad. IT was only after moving out of the family home that I truly realised how grateful I was for the childhood I had had. Only when you have left it behind do you see your parents love for what it really was rather than how you felt about it at the time.

As I washed dishes that night I told my Dad this and how grateful I was. His reply was almost instant, he said that being a parent is all about letting go. The trick is getting the timing right.

I remember this conversation every time I have anxiety over my children's antics. I ask myself is this a "letting go" issue or am i being reasonable. With every step my children take i remind myself of my fathers words and console myself that a good parent lets go at the right moment.