A dad who died days after his 40th birthday has "left a huge hole that can't be filled".
Darren Mason knew he carried the familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) gene and faced uncertainty and tests throughout his life because of it. FAP is hereditary and causes multiple polyps [small growths] to grow in the bowel by the time a person is a teen and if not treated can turn into cancer.
But the St Helens dad, who was attending regular check ups, went into hospital for pains in his leg just before Christmas 2021. Soon after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, which had spread, and he was told there was nothing else that could be done.
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Darren died on April 10, 2022 just days after spending his 40th birthday in hospital. Now, one year on from his tragic death, siblings Chris, Andy and Jackie have been doing all they can to raise vital awareness.
But they previously said it was a "constant battle" as Jackie is also battling the disease. Darren's daughter Zoya found out a week before her dad died that she too inherited the same gene and just last week underwent her first biopsy check.
Chris told the ECHO: "He's left a massive hole, with Christmas, his birthday was the other week, he's missed every day. Zoya has just celebrated her birthday so it's another milestone without him and now we are coming up to one year without him.
"Everything just reminds you of him and the fact he is missing. He was the smallest in the family but he was a big part of it.
"Knowing everything he went through with the gene and the process, his daughter is now going through the same. She was told she had the gene a week before Darren died and now she's just been for her first biopsy and we know she will follow a similar path to him, so to do something to raise awareness, it spurs us on, to think we could be doing something to help."
The family has so far raised just over £9,000 for Bowel Cancer UK, but they are set to complete their biggest challenge yet in the hopes of doing more for the cause, and keep their brother's memory alive. In July, they will be walking the six Snowdon paths in just 24-hours.
But going the extra mile, over 30 strangers have also signed up to help the cause as Chris' friend and work colleague Grant Williams rallied the troops. Around 35 members of the NGUP Active group in Wavertree will also take part in the challenge.
Grant told the ECHO: "I've known Chris for 26 years, we know each other inside out. When everything happened, we held a live event with Dom Townsend and our members all got involved and they said they all wanted to get involved in the next event so here we are.
"We've done a practice walk over the weekend and we've booked our campsite ready to go. One woman has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is going through chemotherapy but she's still training as it's a cause also close to her heart.
"We will set off at 4am and we have 24 hours to complete it from there but it's looking well. Chris aims to keep that feed going and never let it go cold.
"After this no doubt the next challenge will be set, it's about keeping it fresh in everyone's mind. Everyone's got someone close to them suffering some form of cancer.
Anyone wishing to donate or to support the family can do so by clicking here.
From a young age, it was confirmed Darren, from Earlestown, had inherited the gene and had to have regular check-ups, he even underwent bowel surgery to remove a "growth".
Despite initially going into hospital with pains in his leg, the family thought it may have been caused through issues with his hip, but Chris said it was "much worse than that."
After being diagnosed with bowel cancer, Darren started chemotherapy but it had spread to his lungs before he died in hospital.
Bowel Cancer
According to Bowel Cancer UK, your risk of bowel cancer is increased if you have a family history of the disease. The risk is also increased if family members have an inherited gene, one of which is FAP.
FAP is responsible for less than 1 in 100 cases of all bowel cancers and if left untreated, all individuals with this syndrome will almost certainly develop bowel cancer by their 40s. According to Macmillan, FAP causes hundreds or thousands of small growths in the large bowel and can affect other parts of the body.
Some symptoms of bowel cancer can include blood in your poo, a change to your normal bowel habits, a lump, losing weight, pain in your abdomen or cramps and bloating. More information can be found on the Bowel Cancer UK website.
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