A dad-of-eight who was ‘always very health conscious’ wants to warn others after he received a devastating diagnosis after shying away from a prostate exam.
Mike Crowe's sister, who is a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary, finally convinced him to go and get checked.
The 62 year old told the Manchester Evening News : “I went to my GP and I asked, ‘is it worth having this prostate check?’ and he said ‘absolutely, get it done."
After the short examination, the GP told Mike that his prostate was very small, and sent him for further tests.
“When I was diagnosed, my consultant and a nurse were in the room but no smiles. I knew something wasn’t right.
“They told me the biopsies have come back and that I have prostate cancer,” said Mike, a granddad-of-nine from Liverpool.
“Everything just went blank. Everything he said after I wasn’t taking in properly. I stood up and felt weak.
“I never drank or smoked and in my head there was nothing I could have done better to prevent this. The next day I got up and told myself, ‘I can beat this’.”
The cancer was caught early enough that it hadn’t spread, meaning Mike had a significantly better chance of recovery – there were also several treatment options available.
Mike opted for an operation which was completed at the Clatterbridge Hospital in Wirral – and after eight days he was back on his feet and back to work.
Now Mike is encouraging other men to to come forward if they fall into the risk category, or have any symptoms.
Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and treatable if caught early.
Tackling the disease at stages one and two has a near 100 per cent survival rate compared to around 50 per cent at stage four, according to NHS research.
Prostate cancer is usually symptomless during an early stage but the chances of developing it are higher for black men, men over the age of 50 or for those who have a family history of the disease.
Symptoms can include:
needing to urinate more frequently, often during the night
needing to rush to the toilet
difficulty in starting to pee (hesitancy)
straining or taking a long time while peeing
weak flow
feeling that your bladder has not emptied fully
blood in urine or blood in semen
