Alan’s message to others after health scare

“MY MESSAGE to anybody reading this is ‘go get checked.”

If it had been up to him, FC Halifax Town kit man Alan Jackson wouldn’t have even made a doctor’s appointment.

Other than feeling a little tired, Alan felt fine and thought there was no reason to go to the doctors.

But thanks to the persistence of his wife Kim, an appointment was made and it was discovered Alan, known as Jacko, was in the early stages of prostate cancer.

“I didn’t suspect anything was wrong,” says the 72-yearold.

“Christmas 2019 I’d had a day or two in bed with what felt like flu, and I just felt a bit run down, not a lot of energy.

“My wife said ‘get yourself to the doctors’.

“I said ‘I’m alright, I’m just a bit tired’ but she made me an appointment and they sent me for some blood tests.

“I’d not got any symptoms. I went for these blood tests and a day or two later I got a phone call saying ‘can you come to the doctors’.

“I thought maybe my blood sugars were low or something like that, but he said my PSA (prostate-specific antigen) was up from what it should be.

“He said I had the early signs of prostate cancer, which was a bit of a shock, to put it mildly.

“From there I had various scans, had 10 biopsies taken from my prostate, not a very nice operation up my backside, and they found I had early prostate cancer.

“I went to see the surgeon and radiotherapist and was given the choice of whether I wanted an operation to have my prostate removed or I could have a course of radiotherapy.

“I was told if I had the radiotherapy and it didn’t work, then I couldn’t go back and have the operation.

“I went for the radiotherapy in May, early June, but it got cancelled because of Covid, so I eventually had it done around August time.

“I went every weekday to hospital for four weeks, then more x-rays, more scans, more blood tests.

“Before the treatment started, the PSA was over four, but after the treatment, it had been reduced to below one.

“I don’t think there’s a cure as such, unless you have your prostate out, but it’s under control now.

“I’ve been very lucky because I had no pain, no trouble going to the toilet, nothing.

“All the way through the treatment, they were brilliant with me at St James’ Hospital, it was very well organised.

“You’ve got to be very positive, it does help to overcome it.

“I finished the treatment on the same day we went back for pre-season training, which was good because I’d had my treatment and I was back doing the football, which was something to concentrate on.

“I would say to anyone over 50 to go and have a blood test because it’s a simple thing and if they catch it early enough, the treatment’s relatively harmless, and it saves your life. You’ve got to accept it and do something about it, and if you do it early enough, you’ve got a chance.”

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