We need a plan for thousands hit by prostate cancer

PROSTATE cancer presents an acute challenge to our society and our health service. But, most of all, it can have a terrible impact on patients and their loved ones who support them.

- Calvin Bailey

It’s the most common cancer in England with 63,000 men diagnosed every year and close to 500,000 men living with the disease. And it can affect anyone, former Prime Minister David Cameron has just revealed he had prostate cancer.

The earlier you find prostate cancer, the easier it is to treat. So, understandably, the focus tends towards early diagnosis and screening. But neither must we lose sight of those half a million men trying to navigate their way through the ordeal of facing the disease.

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer will be given a choice of treatments, and many like Lord Cameron describe the shock of not only hearing they have cancer but also learning that it is up to them to decide how that cancer should be treated. It can feel like a cruel choice, because those decisions can be life-changing and unalterable. The list of side effects is long and can strike at the heart of a man’s sense of self, dignity and relationships. They can include incontinence, erectile problems and loss of libido among many others.

IMPACTS on mental health can therefore seem almost inevitable, from the shock of diagnosis, the stresses of treatment decisions and the potential for regret, to processing the lasting physical impact of disease and treatment.