Prostate wake-up call.
It isn’t difficult to do. You just need to to to a doctor and ask to get looked out – it’s pretty simple.
This article was written by Michael Phillips and was published in the South Western Times on 27 September 2018.
Donnybrook resident Derek Chapman is urging people to get regular check-ups after being diagnosed with prostate cancer lat year.
Mr Chapman said he chose to speak about his experiences as part of Cancer Awareness Month and encourage others to look after their health.
“I actually came in for a different issue and they encouraged me to have an MRI and it showed I possibly had a few tumours on my prostate,” he said.
“They looked at the results and said I should go to the surgery straight away because it was too far gone to do anything else.
“I had the radical prostate surgery earlier in January this year and had it completely removed.”
Mr Chapman said he was fortunate to be able to have the surgery done.
“It was robotic surgery as I could get that quicker than if I booked to have normal surgery,” he said.
“It frightened me that much I just wanted it to be cut out and done.
“So we were incredibly lucky to be diagnosed and have the surgery done so quickly.”
“I was waking up twice to three times a night to go to the toilet,” he said. “I thought it was because I was having a couple of beers a night that it was causing me to go to the bathroom.
“So that is what I could change if I had my time again is to pay attention to what my body was telling me.”
Mr Chapman said he now had no qualms in talking to people about their health,” he said.
“But now I have spoken to my team and they have all had a check-up.
“It isn’t difficult to do. You just need to to to a doctor and ask to get looked out – it’s pretty simple”.