Senior gym group raise prostate cancer awareness

A group of senior gym-goers who got their prostates checked at roughly the same time were shocked to find almost half of them had early signs of cancer.

The nine men meet regularly to work out at Harwich and Dovercourt Rugby Club in Essex.

Four of them displayed early signs and two of them needed further treatment.

Dave Chilver, who needed radiotherapy, told BBC Essex that if he had not been checked "I might not be here now".

The 78-year-old said: "The cancer was quite close to the outside of the prostate and it could have spread to the outside of the body and that is not treatable.

"It is a bit frightening."

Mr Chilver also needed hormone therapy and his friend Robbie Good, 62, is being monitored after his high prostate-specific antigen (PSA) score.

PSA is a protein produced by the prostate gland.

A high PSA level does not mean you have cancer but is a warning sign which can then lead to further scans and tests to rule out the disease.

The risk of the cancer among men increases with age, and is more prevalent among black men.

The disease affects one in eight men according to Prostate Cancer UK.

Mr Chilver was the first to get checked after attending an event put on by men's health charity CHAPS.

Since the group of men got checked, the rugby club's chairman Sean Mills said he had spread awareness on the issue.

Chris Booth is a retired urological surgeon and is now clinical director at CHAPS. He also lives in Dedham near Colchester.

Prof Booth said the results among this group of friends was "surprising".

"The events we run - we reckon to pick up two cancers for every 100 men that we test and nearly all of the cancers that we pick up are early cancers and curable ones."

Men over the age of 50 are entitled to a free PSA test through their GP.

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