Latest figures say 30% of the population will get cancer at some stage in their lives.

When this happened to photographer, Keith Hern, he wrote about the experience and photographed his treatment.

Bangers & Mash is the resultant book in which Keith gives a detailed account of everything from teh mental trauma of diagnosis to the harsh side-effects, to the sheer relief of getting the all-clear.

Bangers & Mash is no ordinary life story – it’s a tourist’s guide to cancer treatment in both words and pictures.

‘Being treated for cancer is like being in a foreign country’ is how author Keith Hern puts it, ‘and what you really need is a guidebook’.

Early on in Keith’s battle against throat cancer he began to keep a diary but, being a photographer, Keith’s diary is in pictures as well as words.

Recruiting amused nurses and tolerant radiographers to hold the camera, Keith’s book de-mystifies cancer treatment and chronicles every step of the way back to health.

Not always a comfortable read, Bangers & Mash is fast-paced and completely compelling but, most importantly, is intended to help patients and their families understand “what they are in for’.

The big lesson is that it’s not all bad. The book doesn’t pull any punches, but you do learn how it is possible to live through the treatment and get on with your life.

The book has already been widely circulated through the nursing staff at the Royal Marsden hospital where Keith was treated, is one of the best-selling books in the hospital’s bookshop and Macmillan cancer support have bought a dozen for their researchers.