‘Diagnosis wait was like being in limbo’

An elderly cancer patient revealed the 90-day wait for his diagnosis and treatment could have allowed the disease to spread in his system and called on the government to invest more in the diagnostic field.

Retired telecom manager Tom Martin described the feeling of being “in limbo” after waiting almost four months to be told he was suffering from prostate cancer.

Mr Martin, 80, had his initial appointment with a urologist on April 20, 2016 after being referred by his GP a month earlier. Further tests including a biopsy and MRI scan followed in May, but Mr Martin had to wait until 14 June to be diagnosed with the condition, by which point, the cancer had already spread locally to nodes beyond the prostate.

He began hormone therapy shortly after before a programme of radiotherapy later in the year.

Now an ambassador for Cancer Research UK, Mr Martin said he believed receiving his diagnosis earlier could have stifled the progress of the disease. He recalled: “Waiting for my cancer diagnosis and treatment made me feel really anxious. It was also a big worry for my family.

“I had suspected that the symptoms I had been suffering from were due to cancer and so, when the GP referred me to the urologist, I was pre- pared for the news. But what scared me was learning that the cancer had advanced and it was an anxious time waiting to find out exactly what my prognosis was and the appropriate treatment.”

Mr Martin continued: “I was particularly worried because my uncle, and a younger cousin, whom I was close to, both died of prostate cancer very shortly after their diagnosis. I was understandably emotional, given their experience.

“What it does is leave you in limbo, you’re in a situation where you’re preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best, but at that stage, you just don’t know.”

In February 2017, Mr Martin learned his treatment had been successful, though he remains on hormone therapy and has blood tests every six months.

He now wants to see “more investment” in helping to diagnose patients, adding: “The whole diagnostic field just needs more. More scanning equipment, more people working within it, more to help patients, the whole service needs more investment.

“I know that the earlier cancer is caught the better and more successful the treatment is likely to be. I do wonder if I had been seen earlier, would the prostate cancer have been caught sooner, before it had spread. Who knows?”

He continued: “The targets are there for a reason, so that people are assessed quickly. Having cancer is bad enough but knowing it’s had time to spread is devastating.”