D’Wayne treated for infections for two years before finding out he had cancer

45-YEAR-OLD TELLS OF DIAGNOSIS ORDEAL

- By EMILY KELLY

A CROYDON man who spent two years being treated for infections in his urinary tract and prostate was eventually diagnosed with bladder cancer.

D’Wayne Townsend, 45, started having trouble urinating in August, 2023 but was told it was likely a UTI.

When the pain returned two months later D'Wayne went to see a GP was told it was an infection again.

He was diagnosed with prostatitis - an inflammation of the prostate gland - when his pain continued and put on antibiotics.

After two years of pain and noticing blood in his urine, D’Wayne’s friend, Richard Chibisa, 47, a nurse, pushed for him to get an MRI.

The scan and a biopsy confirmed D’Wayne had bladder cancer and he recently completed chemotherapy in preparation for surgery.

D’Wayne, a security business owner and unit car driver, said: “If the hospital's telling me it’s an infection, then that’s what I’m going to believe.

“Once you're told, ‘it's an infection, just take these antibiotics and it will clear the infection up,’ you just think, ‘ok, great. I've had infections before - it’s probably the same for everyone’.

“When they said they had to check my prostate for possible cancer I was worried, but then they came back to say that it wasn’t that, it was a urine infection.

“I thought, if I’ve got to take these tablets for a month and it’s going to get rid of it, then there's no issue there.”

D’Wayne’s symptoms started in August 2023 and he phoned 111 and was told it was likely a UTI and should go away on its own.

The pain subsided in 48 hours but returned two months later and D’Wayne went to see his GP.