3rd October 2022 was the day I started treatment and by 3rd October 2024 I'd finished my treatment for aggressive Gleason 9 Prostate Cancer. I'm hoping sharing my story brings closure. Please don’t think this post is about me wanting sympathy, it’s not. If it was I would have shared it years ago. My story is about raising awareness for men. This is my story:

On 10th August 2022 I went to our GP  for a horsefly bite. Me and my partner Karen were due to go on holiday the following week and she didn’t want me wearing shorts with a massive blister on my shin! The GP practice nurse said that the horsefly bite looked infected and she was worried about a blood infection so she said I might as well do the whole lot of bloods given I was 58 years old, which luckily included a PSA test! (PSA stands for prostate-specific antigen). 

Fast forward six days and we are sat in the Escape Lounge at Manchester Airport. I missed six phone calls over the next two days from a withheld number until I decided to answer it whilst lay on a sunbed in Tenerife. It was the nurse at Heaton Medical Centre, she told me not to worry but my blood count had come back as high. She asked if I was ok being put on a 2-week pathway and that someone would be in touch on my return. She didn’t mention a PSA number, what an 2-week pathway was and I thought it was something to do with an infection.

It was only on my return when I found a letter from the Urology department behind the door so I called the surgery to ask what it meant. I was told a man's PSA should always be between 2-4. Mine was 12. I had a follow up appointment with Urology and had a DRE (Digital rectal exam) which the consultant said was normal. A further discussion and he decided on a few more tests. At this point I still had not got a clue what they actually suspected.

A MRI scan indicated PiRaDs 5 which indicated cancer and biopsies soon followed. I remember going for my results appointment with Karen. I just sat there in total numbness being told I had cancer. I was told that I had an aggressive cancer called Gleason 9 (4+5) and fortunately contained within the prostate. I recall walking from the appointment with Karen crying my eyes out thinking I was going to die. I couldn’t breathe with the shock. I knew Karen was hurting as well.

Then my next thoughts were how am I going to tell my kids? What about Noah? Will I not see Noah and Delilah grow up? Will I ever see Bex and Georgia get married? All of those kind of thoughts flooded my brain. I couldn't get rid of these thoughts. I couldn't sleep and was continually overthinking, reading Dr Google. The day I told Bex and Georgia was upsetting. Bex in her calm but directness said, “we’ll sort it” to Georgia who was inconsolable. I tried to remain positive but knew I had a journey ahead.

Bone and CT scans soon followed which were clear. I was informed that my lymph nodes, and seminal vesicle were clear of any spread and I was given diagnosis of T2c M0 N0 which means T for tumour both sides of the prostate (2), no M which means no metastatic cancer (0) so no spread to the bones, no N which means no spread to the nodes (0). I was one lucky man (even though having cancer isn’t lucky), but my treatment could cure it.

We have no family history of prostate cancer! I was told that they would ring me, the dreaded withheld number called me on a Monday morning. They told me I couldn't have surgery as I had previous deep vein thrombosis (DVT), but they offered me Radiotherapy and Hormone Therapy for two years. I started my Hormone Therapy which entailed a Zolodex injection implant into your stomach. The side effects of Hormone Therapy were tough at times over those 2 years. I had Radiotherapy for just under a month. Since my treatment, my PSA has dropped from 12 to 0.04 and classed as undetectable. There are men who have PSA in their thousands and this is when it is caught late at stage 4.

I don’t know what the future holds for me but hopefully I am cured and I can get on with my life. It’s been a tough time with other testing/traumatic situations in our family also. My mental health has suffered because of it. I have been in some pretty dark places but I am now getting the help I need. I also have physical side effects from the treatment but I am here, I am alive. For those who have been diagnosed with cancer they will know exactly how I feel/have felt. All the emotions and worries it brings not only for yourself but family and friends also.

There’s no screening programme in the UK for prostate cancer, even though it’s now the most commonly diagnosed cancer. Each year, over 50,000 men are diagnosed, and 12,000 men die from it.

I'm asking all my male friends who are over 50 to get a PSA test done. Go to your GP and ask for one. Get it done. It’s a peace of mind.

1 in 8 men in the UK are diagnosed with significant prostate cancer, and it’s looking like this is changing to 1 in 6 men born since 1960. In Black African and Caribbean men, it is 1 in 4 men. If your brother or father had prostate cancer, your risk is 2-2.5 times higher. If your mother or sister had breast cancer below aged 60, your risk increases a little too. The main risk is your age, and your risk increases as you get older from age 50, or age 45 if you have any of the other risk factors, although it is occasionally diagnosed below these ages too.

We used to talk about symptoms, but it was shown last year that prostate cancer doesn’t normally have any symptoms until after it has become incurable. Men who are peeing frequently or peeing slowly usually have an enlarged prostate which is not prostate cancer (although men can have both conditions). The most common symptom of prostate cancer is absolutely nothing, and most men diagnosed have no symptoms of the cancer.

So it’s up to each man to understand their risk and to ask for a PSA blood test if they wish to do so. It won’t be included in routine NHS blood test unless you ask, although being very cheap, it is usually included in routine private healthcare tests. All men are entitled to PSA blood tests from their GP from age 50, or younger for Black African/Caribbean men or men with a family history of prostate or breast cancer. Never allow yourself to be dissuaded just because you have no symptoms – if you have prostate cancer, you want it detected before you have symptoms while it is hopefully still curable. Over half of men diagnosed are currently diagnosed late (Stage 3 or 4).

As I first said, this is not about attention seeking - it’s about preventing going through what I have been through. What my family have been through. I was also one of those people who thought 'it won’t happen to me'. It did! So ask your GP! Insist on the test!

Lastly, thanks to all my family and friends who have been there for me throughout. It’s made a difference to my journey as I was not alone.

Thank you for reading.
Andy Kearney