Woman issues urgent warning after husband with no symptoms diagnosed with 'easily preventable' cancer
A woman has said her husband’s tragic death could have been ‘easily prevented’ if a national screening programme had been in place.
Despite having lived a healthy, active lifestyle, 71-year-old Carole Silver’s spouse, Mark, came to his wife in 2010, admitting he’d seen blood after going to the toilet.
Initially believing the issue was piles - swollen blood vessels inside or around the anus and rectum - the childhood sweethearts headed to see a doctor who delivered the same diagnosis. Writing in The Telegraph, the widow said their local GP prescribed Mark, then 57, some haemorrhoid cream and screened his blood for his PSA levels.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a PSA test is a blood test used primarily to screen for prostate cancer. The test measures the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in your blood.
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Unfortunately, the medical professional had bad news; the man’s PSA levels should have been around three or four for his age, but Mark’s were worryingly high at 27.
After undergoing a biopsy and an MRI, the father-of-four learned he had virtually symptomless prostate cancer that was no longer contained.
“Mark was given pills to suppress his testosterone. We did lots of googling and learned that testosterone feeds the cancer, so that made sense,” Carole wrote in the publication.
“The pills did reduce his PSA levels for a while, and Mark also underwent 12 weeks of radiotherapy a few months later.”
Unfortunately, by 2012, Mark’s PSA levels had crept back up; a catalyst for the couple to seek out a Harley Street urologist who confirmed he could operate to remove the cancer.
After forking out £6,000 ($7,977) for a private scan and operation, the pair learned the cancer was incurable.
By 2019, the British man’s cancer had spread through his bones, hips, and eye sockets and a week before their 48th wedding anniversary, Mark sadly died.
“Amongst all the grief and loss I felt angry that the last decade of his life had been dominated by this disease which ended up killing him,” Carole lamented.
She noted that while she is ‘very pleased’ that her and Mark’s two sons are ‘aware of the condition and are able to have blood tests’, she wished a screening programme had been available so that Mark’s cancer would have been caught sooner and treated in due course.
Cancer Research UK confirmed there is no national screening programme for prostate cancer in the United Kingdom or the United States.
This is because there isn't a reliable test that can pick up prostate cancer that needs treatment at an early stage, as per the charity.
Unfortunately, early prostate cancer rarely has symptoms. Common signs of it include urinary changes like a weak stream, difficulty starting to urinate, or needing to go more frequently.
Other signs may include blood in the urine, like Mark, as well as erectile dysfunction, unexplained weight loss, or bone pain in advanced cases.
Approximately 80-85 percent of all prostate cancers are detected in the local or regional stages (I, II, and III), with many men being disease-free after five years.
However, prostate cancers detected at the distant stage have an average five-year survival rate of 28 percent, which is much lower than local and regional cancers of the prostate, as per Hopkins Medicine.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.
Ella Scott