Anonymous was diagnosed with cancer, aged 53, in June 2015 – a year before his 80-year-old father was diagnosed with the disease. In 2017, on Christmas Day, anonymous’s father sadly passed away. Anonymous has now received the all-clear from prostate cancer, but unfortunately suffers from as a result of his treatment. In June 2019, anonymous and his family took part in Prostate Cancer UK's first ever Cardiff March for Men and raised £800 for Prostate Cancer UK.
His story:
Anonymous went to see his doctor for his six-monthly diabetic blood test and prior to his appointment, he was asked to fill out a medical form. The form listed other blood tests that he could have, including a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) blood test.
Anonymous said: "I was getting up most nights to go to the toilet and so I decided to have a PSA blood test in the hope that I could exclude problems as the cause of this."
The PSA test revealed that anonymous's PSA levels were higher than average, which prompted further investigation and a biopsy later confirmed that he had prostate cancer.
Anonymous said: "When I first heard the news about my diagnosis, I was shocked and upset."
"I couldn't get my head around the news at first, but as a few weeks went by, I slowly came to terms with the fact that I had prostate cancer."
After anonymous was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he started thinking about treatment options and opted to have surgery to remove the prostate. Fortunately, anonymous's operation was successful, but he now suffers from severe as a result.
He said: "Due to my incontinence, I didn't go back to work after my operation and as time went by, I realised that I would not be able to carry on my job and so I retired as a GP in June 2016."
A year later after receiving the news about his own diagnosis, anonymous's father was also diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016. On Christmas Day, the following year, anonymous's father sadly passed away.
Anonymous feels that his experience of prostate cancer has changed his outlook on life.
He said: "Before my diagnosis, I used to focus on work and didn't do much exercise, but now I make more of an effort to look after myself.
"I'm also more relaxed and less stressed and I try to make more time for people, especially my wife. Before we both retired, we were like ships passing in the night, as I was busy working as a GP and she was busy with her job in a bank, but now we make the effort to spend time together and our relationship is stronger as a result."
Retirement has also given anonymous and his wife the opportunity to spend time caring for anonymous's mother and his wife’s parents, who sadly all suffer from health problems.
Fortunately, anonymous has now received the all-clear from prostate cancer.
In June 2019, anonymous and his family took part in Prostate Cancer UK's first ever Cardiff March for Men and raised £800 for Prostate Cancer UK.
Anonymous said: "I had a great time at Prostate Cancer UK's Cardiff March for Men event and would love to take part again. I met some lovely like-minded people and managed to raise a substantial amount for a very worthy cause, which I am happy about. I would encourage anyone to come along and enjoy the day."
Other information:
As a GP, anonymous was aware of his risk of developing prostate cancer.
With regards to treatment anonymous said: "I had a fair idea of the different treatment options available, but Prostate Cancer UK's website helped me to decide which treatment was right for me."
Anonymous does sometimes wonder how his life could have turned out if he had gone down the same route as his colleague. His colleague was diagnosed with prostate cancer just before anonymous and went on active surveillance, rather than having surgery to remove the prostate. He said: "We are a similar age and he is monitoring his PSA levels, without any treatment."
