Move Your Butt this June and help beat bowel cancer

23 May, 2022

June 2022 is bowel cancer awareness month, and Bowel Cancer NZ’s (BCNZ) annual Move Your Butt challenge. This fundraiser encourages all New Zealanders to get off their butts and move more in June, which helps fund vital research and support for bowel cancer patients.

BCNZ ambassador and TVNZ Breakfast presenter Jenny-May Clarkson encourages Kiwis to sign up for Move Your Butt as her brother died from bowel cancer at age 54.

“Sometimes pushing yourself to move isn’t all that comfortable, but neither is bowel cancer. We’re all going through tough times right now, but those with cancer are doing it tougher.

“Doing the Move your Butt challenge is just one thing we can all do to raise awareness of bowel cancer and to acknowledge that it is hard for patients and their families, especially in a Covid environment,” Clarkson says.

The campaign runs from June 1-30, and BCNZ asks all New Zealanders – young or old, fit or unfit – to Move their Butts more during June. The challenge does not need to be extreme, it simply means exercising a little more than you usually do.

“Every day, on average, eight Kiwis will be diagnosed with bowel cancer, and threee people will die from it,” says Rebekah Heal, BCNZ general manager. “By joining us, you’ll be raising vital funds for research and patient support services such as counselling, which is needed more than ever. We receive no government funding and rely on the generosity of New Zealanders to help us continue the important work we do.

“This June, we aim to get all Kiwis off the couch and moving more – even if it’s just a 10 minute walk a day. Everyone who takes part will be helping themselves prevent bowel cancer, and by getting their friends and family to sponsor them they’ll be raising valuable funds for an important cause.”

BCNZ says don’t sit on your symptoms, which may include: Bleeding from the bottom or seeing blood in the toilet after a bowel motion; Change of bowel motions over several weeks without returning to normal; Persistent or periodic severe pain in the abdomen; A lump or mass in the abdomen; Tiredness and loss of weight for no particular reason; Anaemia.

n Get moving to beat the devastating impact of bowel cancer at moveyourbutt.org.nz