My name is Jim and I’ve been lucky enough to have been part of this wonderful club for around six months now. Those who know me will appreciate that I really don’t like to be the centre of attention, but something has happened to me recently that means I need to show my face, and put myself under the spotlight for the greater good.
On January the 13th I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. This was obviously a huge shock and it has taken me a while to come to terms with what is happening to me. Over the last few weeks I have realised that our club is made up of a lot of men who are in their late forties and older, and even if you don’t fit into this demographic, we all know someone that does. Whether this is you, your husband, partner, father, brother or anyone else you know, the message I have felt compelled to send out to them since my diagnosis is, please get checked.
I had no symptoms. I am a fit, healthy man but I have cancer. This disease does not discriminate, so please talk to the people you know about going to the doctor for a PSA blood test. I could be a life saver. Just in addition to this advice, as runners, we need to stop running for at least 2 days before having the test as exercise causes a false reading.
I suppose there is a message here for us all. Regardless of age or gender, we all know there are little checks we can do for ourselves that we don’t do as often as we should. There also might be routine tests that we need to schedule into our busy lives that we put off because we don’t think this will happen to us, or we are embarrassed or forgetful. We really need to do that check, or get that test. It is really is important.
The last thing I need to mention is the great thing that Barry Ryder is doing. His dad and uncle have both had prostate cancer, and he is training for the London marathon, as we speak, in support of prostate cancer uk. This amazing charity supports sufferers by, giving health and wellbeing advice and putting millions of pounds into research and treatment of this deadly disease. So please, if you can spare a pound or two go and visit Barry’s link below and help this great cause.