Guildford resident, Alan K, aged 74, didn’t have any symptoms when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March of this year following a raised PSA test.

“Luckily, I was having regular blood tests at my GP surgery and they tested my PSA levels, but I had no symptoms – no getting up six times in the night, no blood in the urine, no urgency to go to the loo,” he explained. “When I told my male friends I had prostate cancer, they expected me to have symptoms but I didn’t.”

Alan, a chartered accountant, had an MRI scan followed by a biopsy which showed there were cancerous cells in the prostate but they hadn’t spread.

“I was told they had caught the cancer early which meant a good chance of successful treatment without the need for surgery to remove the prostate  – this has all been very reassuring for both me and my wife,” says Alan.

He regularly walks the Surrey Hills with a group of male friends and adds:

“Before my diagnosis, we used to chat about our creaking bones while we were on walks, but now it’s been prostate cancer awareness and getting a PSA test. Two of my friends have already gone and done that since I told them about my diagnosis.”

Alan’s prostate cancer was caught early and had not spread beyond the prostate. He is currently being treated with hormone tablets, followed by radiotherapy later this summer and then brachytherapy at The Stokes Centre for Urology based at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. (Brachytherapy is internal radiotherapy using tiny radioactive seeds which delivers high doses of radiation directly to the prostate.

Listen to Alan share his story on BBC Radio Surrey: click here 

To hear Prof Stephen Langley discuss the risks of prostate cancer and the benefits of PSA tests on BBC Radio Surrey: