Methven man loses seven family members to gut cancer

Tuesday, 21 July 2026

Richard Yeo is giving up sugar, booze, and the sofa for a month as part of a campaign to raise awareness of cancer.

Losing seven family members to cancer in 14 years is a nightmare one Canterbury man has lived.

Richard Yeo, 43, of Methven, lost both his parents, a cousin, one uncle and three aunties to what he calls the “silent assassin of diseases” - gut cancer.

Gut cancer includes all cancers in digestive tract organs such as the stomach, intestines, pancreas, colon, liver, rectum, prostate, and biliary system, and have “some of the worst outcomes of 5-year survival rates,” Gut Cancer Foundation executive officer Liam Willis said.

It’s a reality Yeo knows all too well. His father was diagnosed with prostate and lung cancer just two weeks before he died aged 67. Other than a swollen leg that raised alarm bells, “Dad looked fine”, he said.

His cousin had an alarmingly similar timeline and went to the doctor to get a sore stomach checked, before dying three weeks later with stomach cancer. She was only 34 years old.

Yeo’s mother was 57 when she lost her 10-year battle with cancer.

Richard’s parents Doug and Marian Yeo with their grandchildren, twins Kaleb and Charlotte, two months before Marian died of cancer.

There “wasn’t a place of her body she didn't get it”, Yeo said.

She fought to survive through years of recurring cancer, determined to meet her twin grandchildren – Richard’s second and third children.

The deaths had been “devastating”, Yeo said.

His whānau are the reason he’s joining more than a thousand kiwis ‘Giving It Up for Gut Cancer’ this March.

Richard Yeo with his partner Shannon Roberts, left, Shannon’s niece Elizabeth, back, and twins Charlotte and Kaleb, front.

The Gut Cancer Foundation’s annual fundraiser encourages Kiwis to give up sugar, booze, or the sofa for 31 days and raise funds for researchers and clinical trials to find new ways to spot gut cancers, and treat and beat them.

Yeo thought “screw it, I'll do all three”, he said, passionate about raising funds, awareness and helping families going through tough times like his.

“It’s just heartbreaking to see Givealittle pages for 10-year-olds who need treatment because mum and dad need to give up work,” he said.

Even in small town Methven, with a population of less than 2000 recorded in 2020, Yeo said he had seen “the odd” Givealittle page fundraising for funeral costs because they had spent everything on treatment.

“It shouldn’t happen here.

Richard Yeo says “it’s too late for what's happened to us, but if I can help others I’d be happy to”.

“We can’t rely on the Government to fund these things. We are having to fundraise to keep people alive, our system is so broken.”

Willis said 1625 people signed up to take part in the fundraiser, aiming to reach $350,000 – double last year’s effort of $174,000. With just over a week to go, $209,000 had been raised.

“I hate to sound like the Grim Reaper, but it's probably going to be my fate,” Yeo said.

“If it was going to happen to me, I don't want to have to fundraise myself, I want to be with my family and not worrying about where my last dollar is from because there’s a new treatment that might keep you alive.”

Willis said the campaign includes easy ways to increase healthy habits by reducing alcohol, eating healthy and exercising.

“Nobody is to blame for getting cancer, no matter what lifestyle you lead you are unlucky, but research tells us there are things we can do to reduce our risk of developing them,” Willis said.

Yeo encouraged people to get checked and to “fight your doctor to get the tests you need”, after his father’s concerns over an initial phone consultation with his GP were brushed aside.

“They just thought the swelling in his legs was his heart medication, and it turned out he was dying, and his GP never saw him,” Yeo said.