18 Aug 2025
Richard Smitheman, a much-loved figurative artist and teacher from St Albans, is facing a recurrence of stage 4 colon cancer, just six months after completing a year-long course of surgery and chemotherapy.
Treatment has resumed and is already intense, with 10 rounds of chemo completed and radiation plus major surgery to follow.
Richard is currently unable to work, so a GoFundMe campaign is aiming to raise £22,000 to support the family financially while he focuses on recovery.
This is his story…
Richard’s journey into the arts started at just 16 years old while doing work experience at an animation studio in London. He was living in Harpenden at the time but the film industry quickly brought him to Ireland, where he would meet his future wife Helen, and then onto Los Angeles where they would live and raise a family.
After 25 years living in Los Angeles they moved back to England in 2016 and settled in St Albans where they have been living since.
On returning to the UK Richard has divided his time to both working on films and teaching life drawing for people working in both the entertainment and fine art fields. While not very lucrative, teaching has been extremely rewarding and Richard felt he had finally found his calling.
It was also around this time he also started an educational YouTube channel and without really thinking much of it uploaded a few drawing instructional videos.
Work commitments in animation took over and for the next few years the channel was largely forgotten about. Helen’s work in the film industry continued and she is currently a talent manager for a VFX company in London.
Things were ticking along rather normally but Richards’ work commitments were starting to take a toll on him. In 2021, the year before Richard’s initial cancer diagnosis, he was suffering from indigestion and general digestion issues.
Putting it largely down to his schedule and after some tests, nothing sinister was found and the doctor came to the conclusion it was most likely acid reflux. While Richard wasn’t entirely convinced of the prognosis, and his intuition was telling him all was not well, he was busy and so accepted it and moved on.
In autumn of 2022 at 50 years old and with no real relief from the symptoms Richard began to experience more intense stomach pain and his bathroom habits began to change. He was once again assured by the GP that it was most likely acid reflux and gave the impression that he was probably overreacting.
Possibly in denial at this point Richard accepted the diagnosis. Symptoms persisted over the Christmas period and it was only at Helen’s insistence that they made an appointment with a different doctor in January 2023.
One of the first questions the new doctor asked was had there been a stool test performed? Given that had never even been suggested by the first GP a stool test was ordered to rule out possible cancer.
One day after submitting the stool test Richard received a call from the GP saying they would need him to come into the office the following day…
Helen picks up the story: “As you can imagine it was a rather chilling call to receive and sure enough when at the GP’s office it was confirmed it was likely cancer. A colonoscopy was ordered for the following week and on Valentines day 2023 it was confirmed that it was indeed bowel cancer.
“From this point on our lives would never be the same.
“Over the next couple of weeks we went into auto pilot, doctors’ appointments, scans, blood tests, lots of new terminology that we were still trying to understand, cancer was now part of our day to day life.
“The doctors were fantastic and things moved at a lightning pace. Just three weeks after the initial diagnosis with the GP Richard was all set to go into surgery. Then just two days before the surgery Richard found himself in the emergency room with a blocked bowel. A stent had to be implanted and the surgery was delayed by a week. Not ideal but these things can happen apparently. Being able to go with the unexpected was something we were starting to get better at, little did we know to the extent we would need to be able to change direction at a moment’s notice.
“We arrived at the hospital early for a 7am start. Initially it was quiet but before long Richard was meeting with the surgeon and the anaesthetist for some preoperative notes. Before we knew it he was in surgery. Richard was in theatre for almost eight hours and while it was initially meant to be a laparoscopic surgery it was quickly discovered that the cancer had actually spread to the omentum and so they had to be more invasive than they had initially expected. This resulted in the removal of a large section of his colon along with a partial removal of the omentum and 26 lymph nodes.
“From here we were just so happy it was over. He recovered from the surgery and then chemotherapy began ‘the mop up job’ as they called it. And as is typical we had to pause mid way through to have his gallbladder removed after multiple emergency room visits. “
It was also around this time that Richard started an online drawing community on his YouTube channel. The videos he had put up initially (and forgotten about) had blown up and become some of the most viewed drawing tutorials on the internet. With the momentum of that behind him it felt like the perfect platform to continue being engaged with students and keep teaching. It also acted as a great form of therapy as he went through treatment.
In December 2023 after seven months of chemotherapy Richard was eventually given the all clear, there were no visible signs of cancer, and the family celebrated his recovery.
2024 began with a new appreciation of life and Richard remained under the care of his doctors with regular checks, monitoring bloods, having scans and careful observation.
Early visits all went well, until about halfway through the year. Richard started to feel some changes to his bathroom habits again and general feelings that things were not okay. HIs doctors listened and did scans, blood tests but still no visible sign of cancer. This continued throughout the year.
With no visible signs – although cancer markers in the blood were increasing – the general plan was that due to his extensive surgery in 2023, his colon may be compromised and that it was quite normal that he may experience difficulties as part of his day to day.
Richard really knew something was up, this was all too familiar to previous symptoms and so asked for more investigation. Then, at the beginning of 2025, almost two years to the day from his initial diagnosis, another scan revealed the cancer was back. A recurrence this time and it had spread out of the colon into the bladder, prostate and back on the omentum.
Helen continues: “We were devastated. His medical team jumped into action once again calling for more scans and tests, and set up parallel meetings with surgeons to see if it was operable. The outcome was; yes we have a second chance at a curative surgery.
“’It’ll be a difficult journey’ we were told and will make the last surgery look like a walk in the park. This time we would need everything to go right, up to 12 cycles of chemotherapy followed by five weeks of daily chemo-radiation therapy, followed by life changing surgery of a complete pelvic exenteration. It’s all coming out and he will need to live with both a colostomy bag and a urostomy bag. This is the only choice for the best outcome.
“Richard’s choice. He chose life.”
The last six months have taken a toll. The chemo was more rapid (two week cycles, instead of three last time).
Richard’s ability to work diminished, he hasn’t been able to work in animation in almost three years and in March had to stop his online presence to focus on his health. He didn’t have the energy or mindset to continue.
It’s been challenging. Steroids gave him energy, but transformed him into someone he didn’t recognise. Lung infections brought him to a halt, but he keeps going.
The half way scans were very promising, with reduction in cancer visible, which was the boost we needed to hear! Things are going in the right direction!
Today, his strength and stamina is low. Breathlessness hinders him and periodic hand spasms have prevented him from being able to draw. But he made it through 10 cycles of chemotherapy and now recovers ahead of the next steps.
This week, Richard is having his post chemo scans which will help guide his treatment moving forward.
Everything ahead is daunting, unchartered territory for Richard. But he is strong and focused and ready to fight for his life, albeit a little terrified of what lays ahead.
Helen has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help support Richard during this time, to ease some of the financial burden that is inevitable when unable to work.
She said: “He is sharing his story in the hopes that it will help others recognise symptoms and seek help. Don’t take no for an answer.
“You don’t have to see blood in your stool. You don’t have to be older. If something has changed in your own body, go see your GP.
“Indigestion, constipation, pain in your abdomen – please seek help. You may be afraid of what you might hear but it may just save your life. Richard is 53 years old now, and this has been going on, in hindsight since before 2022, so it’s never too early to ask for help.”
If you can, please consider donating: https://gofund.me/cd6ad95f no matter how little or much, every donation counts and is appreciated!
Helen and Richard ask that you please share his story with your family, friends and community for awareness.
https://www.youtube.com/@RichardSmithemanArt
https://www.richardsmitheman.com
