How we got here
Diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer in 2021. I'm 44 now. The cancer's incurable but for the last few years it's been what oncologists call "manageable" — meaning it doesn't control my life every moment, just most of them. I'm on indefinite chemotherapy. Some people respond to it for months. Some for years. Nobody knows which I'll be. So I don't make five-year plans anymore.
Before cancer I spent almost 20 years in PR and communications. Started at Brands2Life, then The Red Consultancy, then 15 solid years at The PR Network. Built a career doing what you're supposed to do — rise up, get titles, feel like you matter. Then February 2026 happened: the redundancies came through. I was building a GEO tool at the time, which is ironic because I'll never use it. So I asked myself a simple question: what's the point of safety nets if you're going to die before you collect on them?
FC:AI started as a blog. Somewhere to document living with stage 4 cancer and figuring out what AI could actually do to help. Not motivational, not brave, not trying to fight or warrior through anything. Just: here's what it's like, here's what helps, here's what doesn't. The tools came later. I started building tracking systems for myself — symptoms, medications, chemo cycles, wearable data. Realised they actually worked. Realised other people going through similar things might want them too. So I refined them, opened them up, and decided to build a tools-first platform instead of just another cancer blog.
Now I split time between two things: Known & Cited (which pays the bills about 2–3 days a week) and FC:AI (which I give about 1 day a week when I'm not on chemo, more when I'm off it). Both are built on the same philosophy — tell the truth, don't sell false hope, make something people actually need, and try to leave things better than you found them. With K&C I measure how brands appear in LLM-generated answers. With FC:AI I build tools that help people living with cancer. Same person, different hats.