Stoke man says, ‘I want to help others like me who have cancer’

A dad-of-two who is living with terminal cancer has said his focus is now on helping others with cancer through the charity he set up.

Kev Griffiths, from Stoke-on-Trent, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at the age of 44 in 2020 and has since been told it has spread to his lungs.

He said his attention was no longer focused on the software and technology businesses he had set up in the past but was “now very much about supporting other people and raising funds to help fund these new treatments and cures”.

Mr Griffiths has been named as a finalist in the fundraiser category in BBC Radio Stoke’s Make a Difference Awards.

Reflecting on his life since his diagnosis, he said: “It’s a rollercoaster – it really is.

“I’m grateful for the life that I’ve had so far, and I’m not giving up.”

The keen cyclist, who has 13 tumours, said he set up a cycling-themed cancer charity, called Cancer My Arse, last year due to his love of the sport.

He said he also wanted to raise awareness of bowel cancer among the cycling community.

This passion for cycling runs in the family, with his mother Bernadette a silver medallist in the Women’s World Championship Road Race in 1969 and women’s British National Sprint champion from 1968 to 1971.

His father, Phil, meanwhile, represented Great Britain in both the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal.

And his great-grandparents opened Swinnerton Cycles in Stoke-on-Trent in 1915 and the shop went on to become a meeting place for cyclists when his grandparents owned it.

Annabelle Griffiths said her husband was determined to help others despite his terminal cancer diagnosis, adding: “I don’t think I have ever met anybody quite like him, to be honest.”

Mr Griffiths said the charity was on course to raise more than £150,000 in its first year.

He said that while he can no longer ride a bike himself, he wanted to organise fundraising challenges for other cyclists to take part in.

This includes a 500-mile cycling challenge taking place in the south of France later this month.

Mr Griffiths, who has a stoma bag after having his colon removed, has also successfully campaigned for sanitary bins to be put in men’s toilets.

BBR Radio Stoke’s Make a Difference Awards ceremony will be held on 25 September.

The fundraiser category, which is being judged by playwright and actor Deb McAndrew, is to be awarded to an individual or group of people who have gone the extra mile to raise funds for a good cause.