David Cameron has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer after his wife Samantha insisted that he go for a check-up.
Lord Cameron, 59, told the Times newspaper his wife had been inspired by a radio interview with Nick Jones, founder of private members’ club chain Soho House, who was campaigning for more men to be tested after being diagnosed.
The former prime minister then had a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, an MRI scan and then a biopsy which confirmed the diagnosis.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males in the UK, with around 55,000 new cases every year.
Lord Cameron told the newspaper he wanted use his platform to support a call by Prostate Cancer Research, a charity which counts Mr Jones as a trustee, for screening to be offered to high risk men.
The cancer is most common in older age – among men over 75. Cases in the under-50s are rare. It is also more common in black men.
“I don’t particularly like discussing my personal intimate health issues, but I feel I ought to,” he said.
“Let’s be honest. Men are not very good at talking about their health. We tend to put things off.”
But he said: “I sort of thought, well, this has happened to you, and you should lend your voice to it.”
Lord Cameron said he chose to treat the cancer with focal therapy. This targets the area of the prostate where the tumour is present using methods such as ultrasound waves to destroy cancel cells.
“I would feel bad if I didn’t come forward and say that I’ve had this experience. I had a scan. It helped me discover something that was wrong. It gave me the chance to deal with it,” he told the Times.
There is currently no screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK because of concerns about the accuracy of PSA tests.
But the peer’s intervention comes days after a major prostate cancer screening trial began in the UK, aimed at finding the best way to detect the disease.
Around one in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lives, according to Prostate Cancer UK, with research showing it has overtaken breast cancer as the most commonly diagnosed form of the disease in the UK.