60 before 60: One golfer’s epic challenge in the face of advanced prostate cancer

Martin was diagnosed in 2017 aged 58. He has since had several treatments including both chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and is now at a stage where his prostate cancer is just being managed. Martin says “They can’t cure me. I had chemotherapy at the end of 2017 through to 2018. Physically I felt fine but then it got tough because I couldn’t do the simplest things during treatment. I couldn’t boil a kettle, I couldn’t count, my brain was basically shutting down.”

“The first two weeks after I found out were difficult obviously. I had chemotherapy at the end of 2017 through to 2018. After that, I had radiotherapy during February and March of this year - and that left me with no energy during the last two weeks of the treatment and two weeks after. Now though, I feel physically fine. Ultimately, it doesn’t bother me. My view is that I didn’t know when I was going to die before, and I don’t know when I am going to die now, so why worry about it?”

Despite dealing with difficult side effects from his treatment, Martin wasn’t one to take it easy. He soon began thinking of ways to set himself a challenge. As a keen golfer, it seemed only logical that this challenge would involve his favourite game. He says “We didn’t start organising it until after I finished the radiotherapy, as we didn’t know how ill I would be, so we only started organising it a couple of months ago. I thought I could play 60 courses and then finish the last course on my 60^th birthday, I thought that would be a nice touch.”

I’m playing with people at every course and I am very grateful to them for joining me. There have been quite a lot of people wanting to play with me and I’m looking forward to playing with people I haven't seen in years.  

As he visits each course on his route, he hopes his challenge will start conversations about prostate cancer with more men. He is also aiming to raise £5,000 to say thank you for the support he received after his diagnosis. You can sponsor Martin on his JustGiving page.

Martin will be finishing his challenge on 18 July, his 60^th birthday. He said “I’m not worrying about my scoring during the challenge, I’m just wanting to get round and get it completed. I just want to have fun with the people I’m playing with and so far it’s been great. When people read the schedule and see all the courses that I am going to try and play, they think I am an idiot. But I’ll be delighted if I manage to finish it."

Martin will complete his challenge on his 60th birthday, 18 July 2019 at Longside Golf Course in Aberdeenshire.