My husband died because he was too young for a prostate test
BY THE time my husband Kevin was diagnosed with advanced, aggressive prostate cancer, it had taken three years for his health concerns to be taken seriously. At the age of 46, he had visited the GP because he had noticed an increased need to urinate. The GP referred him to a consultant urologist, but despite three appointments over the next two years, he was sent away with the diagnosis of having an irritable bladder. When Kevin started to have other symptoms, he went back to the GP. She looked at his notes and saw he had never had a PSA blood test — the standard test for prostate cancer. It came back at a level of 23 when it should have been zero for a man of his age. There then followed a referral, biopsy, MRI and bone scans. Getting the results took weeks. We went to see a different consultant urologist who said: ‘How do you want to proceed? Surgery or radiotherapy?’ It was like being offered pick ’n’ mix. Six weeks later, he had surgery and Kevin was told the tumour was the size of a grapefruit. They couldn’t remove it all, but seven weeks of radiotherapy ‘should do the trick’. He asked the obvious questions: ‘How long have I had the tumour?’ ‘A few years.’ ‘Why wasn’t it diagnosed when I first presented to the hospital urology department three years ago?’ ‘Because you are too young.’ After two years and eight months of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and all sorts of medication, my husband died at the age of 51. I would like other men and their wives to know that early diagnosis saves lives and that prostate cancer isn’t just an ‘old man’s disease’.
JEN HAMBLIN, Chesham, Bucks.