David's story

I’m a football fan and have been since 1973 when I attended by first match. Over the years I have visited all 92 Football League clubs and have seen many changes within the game.

Today, I also support Prostate Cancer UK and have done since I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 at the age of 49. It wasn’t until then that I found out that prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.Over 40,000 men are diagnosed and ever year sadly 10,000 men lose their lives.

The most disturbing thing for me, apart from hearing those fearful words “you’ve got cancer” was that I had no symptoms.

I thought only ‘old men’ got prostate cancer. I was a fit 49 year old who played sport and knew that you should eat five portions of fruit and veg a day. I didn’t know exactly where my prostate was and certainly didn’t know what it did.

I’m so thankful that I had a check up and blood test because it was initially through my PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test that provided important clues that after further investigation identified that, in fact, I did have prostate cancer.

Fortunately for me my prostate cancer was diagnosed as early/low risk which meant that I had a choice of treatment.

The danger if you wait until you have symptoms is that the cancer may have advanced to a less treatable stage, narrowing your choice of treatment and potentially affecting the quality of your life to a far greater extent.

To raise awareness of prostate cancer I am walking around the perimeter of the pitch at famous sporting stadiums in the UK, to highlight just how common prostate cancer is and to encourage men of all ages to be aware of the benefits of adopting a healthy diet/lifestyle and for those men over the age of 40 to routinely have a health check. They owe it to their loved ones and most importantly they owe it to themselves.

 

David Annand

Football supporter & prostate cancer sufferer

www.justgiving.com/david500miles