'I worked as a chef for Raymond Blanc, now I'm holding a Cook Off For Cancer'

Paul, from Barnsley, had undergone a capsule endoscopy to capture images inside his gastrointestinal tract the day before starting his new job in May 2024. He was being called with the results – and was told that an abnormality had been found during the scan. Within two weeks, further tests then led to a bowel cancer diagnosis.

“Both my parents died of cancer many years ago. So I'd always had this thought in my mind of would I one day be sat down in a similar way and be told you've got cancer,” he says. “I've got an amazing family, wife and two kids, and they were just brilliant as well as the wider family and friends. But it's a massive shock to anybody.

“The first thing you think is does it spread? How extensive is it? What stage is it at? You do all the Google research which you shouldn't do. I remember spending quite a lonely night in a Premier Inn near the office one night Googling stuff.”

Paul soon had surgery at Barnsley Hospital to remove part of his bowel, which was successful in treating the cancer. After a return to work last year, he became determined to give something back to cancer research and support, and decided he would focus on children and young people.

“I wanted something good and positive to come from my experience,” he says. “And I decided I wanted to do something for children who were diagnosed with cancer. Cancer touches just about everybody's life in some way or other, doesn't it? Through your friends or personally, but I think when it affects children, it is particularly cruel…

"A cancer diagnosis throws a whole family into an upsetting and uncertain spiral. And that's, I would imagine, even more intensified if you've got a child and you're thinking about maintaining work and your child getting treatment, especially in centres away from home and things like that.”

Paul has launched a year-long fundraising challenge throughout 2026 to support the charity Young Lives vs Cancer. The organisation supports young people and their families to navigate the emotional and practical impact of cancer, with specialist social workers, mental health and bereavement support, financial assistance and an accommodation ‘home from home’ service at specialist treatment centres.

Paul says: “I know first-hand just how devastating a cancer diagnosis can be – not only for yourself but also for those who love you the most. During my treatment I became particularly concerned for my two children who had to learn how to live alongside a parent who has cancer...The important impact that Young Lives vs Cancer has for children and their families cannot be overstated and I hope that many will join me this year in raising as much money as possible for this deserving charity.”

Cookery-fan Paul turned to his background for inspiration for the fundraising and launched Cook Off For Cancer, aiming to bring people together to raise money through the power of food. The fundraising is a nod back to 2002, when Paul won a scholarship to work as a chef for Raymond Blanc at then two-Michelin star restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire.

“I wouldn't change it for the world. It was an amazing experience,” he reflects. “I learnt so much. I cooked for Richard Branson, for Caprice. It was incredibly hard work but I learnt so much about customer service, customer excellence and obviously cooking itself, from the passion that Raymond Blanc has for everything - food, taste and flavour.”

Paul hopes that businesses, individuals and even some celebrity chefs will join him in his fundraising endeavour, with cook-offs, supper clubs, bake-offs, tastings and foodie challenges planned for across the UK in the coming months. “People get it, don't they? They know what this cause is about and it really does resonate for people,” Paul says. “I think people want to get involved – it’s a great way of doing something positive and proactive.”

For more on Paul’s challenge, visit www.riverside.org.uk/cook-off-for-cancer