Alun Roberts turned 60 in March last year. He celebrated with friends and family and looked forward to cutting down on his hours of work and spending more time with his grandchildren.

But he was ignoring something.

“I had been concerned with needing the loo too often for some while. I chose to ignore it, I hoped it would just disappear.

“But it got worse,” he said.

Alun eventually plucked up the courage to go and see his GP. There he was given a blood test for prostate problems. Anything above a reading of four is bad news. Alun’s reading was 40.

“I was gutted. It was a very bad sign. Alarm bells were ringing loud and clear.”

After further tests, a biopsy and multiple scans, Alun was given a diagnosis.

“They confirmed my worst fears: that I had prostate cancer,” he said.

At this point, his cancer was curable; but things soon took a turn for worse.

Alun went for an MRI scan and a spot was found in his hip. There was another biopsy; more tests and more scans.

“When the results came back, my worst fears had come true: the cancer had gone to my bone.

“At this point it was not curable.”

Alun was given a prognosis of five to six years left to live.

His cancer is no longer curable, but treatable. He has already had four rounds of chemotherapy and will continue to be on hormone therapy for the rest of his life.

Alun wants to give back to the services that supported him and raise awareness of prostate cancer: to get men like him to go to the doctor’s before it’s too late.

“The message I want to get across is for men to get tested.”

“Prostate cancer has changed my life, and it could have been prevented. If I had read this article in the paper five years ago, I would have gone for the test.”

Ignorance is one of the reasons why Alun thinks men are reluctant to go to the doctor’s.

“You think it’s going to happen to someone else, you don’t think it’s going to happen to you,” he said. “Men are the worst, especially country types. I have told every bloke I know. If they think I’m mithering I don’t care: I could save a life.”

In fact, Alun might have already done. Two of the friends he pestered went to the doctors and got a diagnosis; and hopefully, for them, it’s not too late.

Alun would like to thank his friends, family and colleagues at Phoenix House and Perthyn whose help and support he could not have done without.

  • Pinky’s Fundraising Party

ON Saturday, December 29, Alun, also known as ‘Pinky’, will be hosting a party to raise money for Lingen Davies. His grandson, JJ Downes, will be shaving his hair off as part of the event. It will take place at the Black Lion in Llanfair Caereinion from 8pm. Sue Warren will be performing hits from the 60s and 70s. Entry will be free, with donations gratefully received.

Prostate cancer symptoms and treatment

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. It usually develops slowly, so there may be no signs for many years.

The chances of developing prostate cancer increase as you get older; most cases develop in men aged 50 and over.

Symptoms of prostate cancer do not usually appear until the prostate is large enough to affect the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the penis. When this happens, you may notice things like: an increased need to pee, straining while you pee and a feeling that your bladder has not fully emptied. These symptoms should not be ignored, but they do not mean you have prostate cancer. It’s more likely they’re caused by something else, such as prostate enlargement.

For many men with prostate cancer, treatment is not immediately necessary.

Some cases of prostate cancer can be cured if treated in the early stages. Treatments include surgically removing the prostate and radiotherapy; either on its own or alongside hormone therapy.

Some cases are only diagnosed at a later stage, when the cancer has spread. If the cancer spreads to other parts of the body and can’t be cured, then treatment is focused on prolonging life and relieving symptoms.

For more information from the NHS, click here.