Tim Muffett,BBC Breakfastand
Zac Sherratt,South East
BBCA man from Surrey whose father and son had prostate cancer says his own diagnosis for the same disease might have been different if his concerns were listened to earlier.
Harry Elson, 79, from Guildford, was diagnosed after pushing for further tests when his prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels rose sharply and he developed groin pain.
His father, John, died from prostate cancer, and his son Jeremy, 59, was treated early and cured after doctors acted quickly because of the family history.
Mr Elson believes if he had received an MRI and biopsy earlier, he “wouldn’t be going through what I’m having to go through now”.
“I went to the doctor and said look, I’ve got a family history here, Can you give me a test,” he said.
“The PSA was very low, very low really up until my late 50s.”
PSA is the protein made by the prostate. Raised levels can indicate cancer, but can also be caused by other factors.
Mr Elson said: “It doubled, and then it doubled again. I said to my doctor I had a groin pain. He said ‘don’t worry about that, it’s nothing to do with that’.
“I started to get really painful in the prostate area. I insisted on another test, which they did, but luckily enough I was seen by another doctor, and he said ‘you’ve got to go and have this investigated’.”
His son, Jeremy, said he was sent for an MRI and a biopsy because of his family history and increase in PSA levels.
“They discovered it because of their interventions as early as one can discover prostate cancer, and in my case I’ve been cured,” he said.
Harry’s diagnosis has devastated his family.
His wife, Margaret, 72, said: “I deal with it much worse than Harry. He’s very philosophical about it and I’m really so angry for him. He’s so positive, so energetic, I don’t know how he keeps it going sometimes.
“This could have been stopped if we had realised that he should have pushed a bit more at the GP.
“I know there’s people that have lots worse diagnoses, but truly I don’t much care about other people, and that sounds very callous, but I care about Harry and the family.”
Mr Elson has written a book about the realities of living with prostate cancer and will donate the proceeds to the Prostate Project, based in Guildford.
The charity supports the Royal Surrey County Hospital, St Luke’s Cancer Centre, Frimley Park Hospital and the Oncology Research Group at the University of Surrey.
