Real Stories
12 Feb 2024'My cancer was picked up by pure chance, it shouldn’t be this way’
Paul's story of prostate cancer
Paul was feeling perfectly fine and suffering from no symptoms when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
A sudden adverse reaction to the over-the-counter painkillers led Paul to visit his doctor. To pinpoint the cause of his adverse reaction, his GP ran blood tests, which included a PSA blood test. While the results proved his reaction was due to the medication, it was also discovered that he had an exceptionally high PSA level, which can point towards prostate cancer. Paul tells his story in our new film linked below.
I didn't take any medication, wasn't overweight, played walking football twice a week, have never smoked and I don't drink that much either.
What followed was a series of tests including MRI, PET scan and 28 biopsies. "After a tense few weeks of urgent scans, biopsies and testing, followed by an emotional two-week roller-coaster ride waiting for the results, I was eventually diagnosed with locally advanced prostate cancer”. Paul says. In the film he talks about his diagnosis and describes how the news hit him like a ‘bombshell’, leaving him numb. He then tells how he turned his experience into his mission the very next day to tell more men to get checked and not to leave it to chance.
Shockingly, my eldest son James (43) has now also been diagnosed with prostate cancer, after I'd insisted he visit the doctor to talk about his risk of the disease. I dread to think what would've happened if he had not spoken to the doctor about having a PSA blood test!
As Paul says, too many men are being diagnosed, like him, by chance. James had surgery to remove his prostate and Paul is now undergoing hormone treatment, which has left his prostate cancer ‘undetectable.’ Fortunately for Paul and James it wasn’t too late, but for too many men, it can be.
Check your prostate cancer risk now. Take our 30 second risk checker. Why leave it to chance?
1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer, but all too often they find out by complete chance, and it may be too late. Our latest TV appeal could help fund the research to stop men dying too soon. Will you help?
