Living legend launches Man Alive campaign

Published on Wednesday 26 May 2004 01:00

HALF the men in the UK would delay going to the doctor if they developed warning signs of cancer, it emerged yesterday.

A specially commissioned survey to launch Cancer Research UK’s Man Alive campaign showed that just 52 per cent of men would seek medical help immediately if they found traces of blood in their stools, one of the most common symptoms of bowel cancer.

The campaign was officially launched by Scottish football legend Denis Law, who successfully underwent surgery for prostate cancer a few months ago, aged 63. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men.

Younger men were most likely to cite embarrassment as a reason to delay getting their symptoms checked, whereas those older than 45 were concerned about what the doctor might find as a the result of an examination. Lack of time was a factor across all age groups.

Cancer now kills more men in the UK than any other condition, including heart disease.

Law said he waited three months to seek medical help and that was only after being encouraged by his wife to go to the doctor.

He said: "I remember being called in to see my urologist for the results of the biopsy. As soon as he mentioned the word ‘cancer’, I went numb.

"Later on, I felt shocked and isolated. Months earlier, I hadn’t even known I was ill. Looking back, I should have seen my doctor earlier but I think men are like that; we don’t like to face up to things. I’ve always been fit and I guess I just put my problems down to getting older. I buried my head in the sand."

He said that fortunately the cancer was diagnosed in time to have the widest choice of treatment options.

But added: "I was told that if I had further delayed seeking help surgery may not have been an option and the outcome may have been entirely different."

More than 24,700 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year, with a lifetime risk of one in 14.

The Institute of Cancer Research said yesterday that thousands of men could be spared radical surgery if they were monitored for signs of increased prostate cancer risk but that the current test for the disease - known as the PSA test - was inadequate.

Professor Colin Cooper, the head of the Everyman Male Cancer Research Centre, said surgery could be avoided in as many as half of men with positive PSA tests and called for a system of "active surveillance", where men with slightly raised PSA levels could be monitored. He said while PSA was the best test currently available, a better test that could pinpoint the most aggressive cancers was needed.