Cancer series helps all to face their mortality

Simon Wilson’s moving personal account of prostate cancer, which continues today, is a selfless gift to men’s health. If the series achieves what he hopes, it will be a powerful reminder to all men in their prime of life to have the check-ups they might prefer to avoid.

Wilson has had the news everyone fears when have a test for any form of cancer. But perhaps men especially.

It is not just the digital probe they avoid, the blood test is no more welcome when it’s suggested.

Yet the blood test is non-invasive and free, so there is no reason not to ask for it at every check-up. And no reason not to have a regular check-up. Wilson admitted last week he hadn’t had one for quite a while. “I was stupid.”

Men can be stupid about their health in ways women are not. Men are more inclined to assume that if they feel fine they are fine, and they do not want to be told otherwise.

They might think they would prefer not to know — until eventually it may be too late to wish they had gone for a check-up regularly. Cancer treatments have made good advances in recent years. Detected early, a cancer is no longer a death sentence.

Wilson’s story is more than a reminder to be vigilant, it is sharing an ordeal he is enduring with realism, strength and courage, helping us all to face our mortality.