The Trust and the football club have banged the drum for Prostate Cancer testing and our welfare section has publications on Prostate Cancer and the PSA test. It’s such an important health issue for men and for trust member Neil Watts it ‘could well have saved his life by following this advice. Read Neil’s inspirational letter below to all fans, reprinted in full with permission.
Yet another benefit of Trust membership…….
Throughout 2019 the club and the Trust were featuring the importance of PSA testing for men, and those able to attend regular home matches were able to benefit from a pre-match test. As an Exile I noted the picture of the Chief Executive being tested, a telling video from the Club Secretary, and wondered……..I was also, occasionally, having to rush to the toilet for a wee but a feature of my working life had been the mantra ‘If you don’t want to know the answer don’t ask the question’……. but two men in our small Suffolk village had recently died from prostate cancer which had spread before it was identified……..So when in January 2020 I was booking my ‘Well Man’ check with my GP something made me add the PSA check to the list of ‘normal’ tests – a decision that may in retrospect have saved my life.
At 68 I was relatively late to have my first test – but better late than never – and by the evening the GP was on the phone – 10.5 was the score. A quick physical check (‘fun’ that was),“probably you are fine but have an MRI scan just to be sure”, and then a biopsy; the result – I had prostate cancer. Watch and wait initially – through the first lockdown – but my PSA scores kept going up and by July the consultant and I had had enough and action was required. Meetings with the oncologist with the option of hormone and radiotherapy, or surgery to remove the prostate – not without its risks – but now undertaken by robots, with a surgeon in charge of course! I wanted the prostate out – hopefully before the cancer spread – and on the 23rd September the surgeon, and the robots, went to work in Cambridge. The support from Rochdale AFC and the Trust was amazing – personal phone calls from John Smallwood and David Bottomley, and great care and concern shown by Ian Goodwin and Bob Morrisey from the Trust.
I am very pleased to report that the op was successful, the prostate is out, the cancer does not appear to have spread and the PSA is down to virtually zero. Regular PSA checks for the foreseeable future of course and keeping up the various exercises, but all of a sudden I can look forward again rather than living life in a sort of limbo. Of course I might have not had the PSA test, avoided all the worry, appointments, surgery etc. and be none the wiser and may have been okay; or at least until I started having other symptoms and discovered too late after the cancer had spread elsewhere in my body. The moral of this tale – if like me you keep wondering about having the test – get a PSA blood test done, trust me it is a lot less unpleasant than a Covid test! It will probably be fine, but if it isn’t the sooner you get something done the better. We need every supporter we’ve got – up the Dale!
Neil Watts ( Suffolkdale.)
The Trust wish Neil a continuing recovery and thank him for sharing his personal story. We urge all men over 40 or anyone having water work problems to seek advice from their GP as soon as possible. We ask partners of men suffering, but as usual reluctant to go to their GP, to drag them to the surgery. As Neil says in most cases it will be nothing, but if it isn’t then the sooner you go, the sooner it can be fixed.
For more information on Prostate Cancer visit the Trust Web site HERE.
For information on the PSA test covered on the trust web site, click HERE
If you feel you would like to talk in confidence to a specialist member of the trust welfare team who is experienced in listening, helping, and guiding towards advice then please email to welfare@daletrust.co.uk and a member of the team to get back to you, all communication is kept strictly confidential.
If you would like to talk to Neil about your own personal circumstances, to get advice and further guidance then contact the welfare team at info@daletrust.co.uk and we will arrange for Neil to speak to you in private and of course in confidence.