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Couple chase bucket list dreams after health scares

Bea Swallow
BBC News, Somerset
Vicki Clark
BBC Radio Somerset
That Travel Couple Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper sitting beside each other on the front of a wooden boat in Thailand. They are surrounded by vibrant blue-green water and huge mountains covered in greenery on either side.That Travel Couple
The travel bloggers said life is all about "deciding which risks you want to take"

A married couple say two major health scares gave them the push they needed to "live life to the fullest" and tick off every bucket list experience.

Travel bloggers Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper, from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset, have explored more than 50 countries together over the past six years.

Mr Camper wears an implanted defibrillator after suffering a cardiac arrest at the age of 15, while Ms Bird was diagnosed with stage 4 blood cancer in 2022.

The 25-year-olds have amassed an online following of more than 450,000 people, and use their platform to share travel tips and raise awareness of symptoms.

That Travel Couple Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper wearing full snow suits, helmets and ski goggles. They have dug a hole in the snow and placed their phone in there, pointing upwards to capture them looking down against the bright blue sky. That Travel Couple
The couple say they are drawn towards experiences "off the beaten track"

For six months, doctors told Ms Bird her persistent cough, night sweats, constant exhaustion and unexplained bruising were nothing to worry about.

But a week after the couple's engagement, she was officially diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis - an aggressive cancer that affects white blood cells.

Throughout 18 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the couple sat together in hospital and planned their adventures.

That Travel Couple A selfie of Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper strapped into a dune buggy on a vast plain of desert. They are both wearing black helmets and sunglasses, and smiling at the camera. That Travel Couple
Ms Bird was given a 60% chance of survival, while Mr Camper was faced with a less than 2% likelihood following his cardiac arrest

"Every appointment we'd sit there and think 'where do we want to go? What do we want to see?' It was the one thing really pushing us through," said Ms Bird.

With doctors so "unsure about what the future was going to hold", the couple took a chance and booked a last-minute flight to Cappadocia in Turkey.

The day after they returned from their spontaneous trip, a PET scan revealed there were no more cancer cells left in Ms Bird's body.

That Travel Couple A selfie of Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper wearing black sunglasses and yellow plastic ponchos. They are smiling and posing in front of Niagara Falls, as water droplets splash down from above.That Travel Couple
The pair use their platform to raise awareness of health condition symptoms and encourage testing

"We gained quite a good following off the back of that trip," the couple said.

"People were asking us how we do it, saying we were quite inspirational, which made us blush a lot.

"We started blogging more and it kind of escalated from there."

Their passports are now adorned with stamps from across the world - including Tokyo, Australia, Singapore, Greece, Switzerland, Budapest, Egypt, Kenya, Dubai, Iceland, and Norway.

That Travel Couple Hannah Bird and Charlie Camper wearing winter coats and hats, standing with their arms around each other. They are in a snowy mountainous landscape and the dark sky is lit up with green Northern Lights. That Travel Couple
The couple said the serious health scares "changed [their] outlook" on life

"We've got a big bucket list on a bit of paper in our bedroom, but it seems to constantly get longer and longer," Ms Bird laughed.

"I don't think its ever going to stop if I'm honest, we see new inspiration pretty much every day."

The couple have now been shortlisted for the ITV Travel Creator of the Year award in recognition of their engaging content and inspiring stories.

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