'If I hadn't gone to see my GP with a sore throat I would never have known that I had prostate cancer...Go and get the blood test done'

FEARGAL Sharkey has revealed he was diagnosed with prostate cancer after visiting his doctor over concerns about a sore throat.

- Steph Spyro

The punk legend reassured fans he is doing “very well” and has vowed to carry on his fight to clean up waterways.

Feargal, 66, made his diagnosis public to encourage other men to get themselves tested for cancer.

Speaking by the River Lea in Hertfordshire, the keen angler and The Undertones singer said: “About a year and a half ago, I randomly went to see my GP with a sore throat. Now I’ve known him long enough but he goes ‘No no, you're that bloke that used to sing.

“So if you're telling me you've got a sore throat, there’s something going on.’ So my doctor — being the beautiful, wonderful, awkward, cantankerous old man that he is — went ‘Oh Feargal, by the way, you're 65 now, I’m going to run the full battery of tests.

“Two days later, it turns out, I began a journey that led to the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

“Thankfully, that’s all now been resolved a year ago. But here we are...had it not been for that random visit to my local GP, I would never have known that I was at that point carrying prostate cancer.

“It could have been a very different ending and a very different outcome to my life. I’m very happy to talk about it is because if there's one man out there over the age of 45 go and see your GP.”

Appeal

Feargal added: “Go and get the blood test done.” Making a direct appeal to the public, the Teenage Kicks singer insisted: “Now, for one in eight of you, you will be put on the same journey I’ve had. It’s quite astonishing to think that in this country right now one in eight men have prostate cancer.

“Most of them don’t even know it. So go and have the blood test, if you're lucky, you'll walk away. If you're lucky, like me, hopefully you'll have caught it early and you can deal with it and get on top of it.