News Extra

Prostate cancer sufferer breaks silence and launches £100,000 campaign for improved services

Reproduction of this feature by courtesy of the
Gloucestershire Echo Friday 20th July 2001

Brian Chaplin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2000. Since then he has learned to live with a potentially fatal disease. He tells his story to Echo reporter Kerryanne Clancy with photo's courtesy of The Gloucestershire Echo.

HELP ME COMBAT CANCER

Coun Brian Chaplin has launched a £100,000 appeal to improve services for prostate cancer sufferers at Cheltenham General Hospital

Pain was a sign of an unspoken killer

I have prostate cancer but I am the luckiest man alive. I have been caught early through sheer diligence as there is no history of this in my family or anything like that.

It was just over a year ago when I got a pain in my back which I thought was a kidney stone. I went to my see my GP but he wasn't there so I was looked at by a registrar.

It was thanks to his diligence that I was caught very early. He did a prostate examination because of my age to be on the safe side.

Then they carried out a blood test to find out my prostate specific antigen (PSA) which can be an indicator. For most men it is four or less and mine was a six, so I went for further consultations at the hospital and ultrasound confirmed I had a problem. A biopsy confirmed I had prostate cancer and it was then I was talked through the options.

One was surgery to remove the prostate completely which although a complete solution, has side-effects such as incontinence or impotence.

Another was radiotherapy which Cheltenham General Hospital is well kitted-out for but that too can have side effects for your other organs. Also you have to undergo treatment for half an hour every day for seven weeks which just didn't fit in with my lifestyle.

So I started reading up about prostate cancer and my sister sent a lot of information from America and it was then I came across brachytherapy. If my cancer has spread then the next stage would have been chemotherapy or hormone therapy, which both have serious side effects. But as mine was caught in the early stages and I had no other symptoms whatsoever brachytherapy seemed a good option.

Basically brachytherapy treatment involves inserting needles right into the site of the cancer by using ultrasound. Then, through the needles, they send radioactive grains directly into the cancer.

I could have been treated at Leeds Hospital but I was appalled that men in Gloucestershire would have to travel so far. That's when I asked why it wasn't available here when Cheltenham General Hospital is one of the leading lights for cancer treatment in the country. I was told it was because there wasn't enough money.

I think it is shameful not to have the facility for the sake of £100,000, which is peanuts in terms of charity fundraising.

Nearly 11,000 men a year are dying of this disease, which is four times more than women with breast cancer.

If a man lives long enough the chances are he will develop prostate cancer.

With testicular cancer you can feel when there is a problem and check yourself out but you can't do that with this. I don't have to take any medication as I'm not suffering any side-effects but I do go for check ups every two months. Before I developed it I didn't even know what a prostate was.

Having this disease is nothing to be ashamed of and I would advise all men over 50 to contact their GPs and ask for a PSA test.

I've had to have a sense of humour about all this otherwise I would go mad. I have a philosophical outlook on life, I've got this so let's see what we can do to fight it. All my family have been very supportive and one of my sisters in America sent me loads of information on prostate cancer via email. Unfortunately her husband has contracted prostate cancer but his was more advanced than mine and he is undergoing hormone therapy.

I think I am fortunate to be in the position where I can not only get myself fit but I can do something to make sure all other men in our community will also have the opportunity to be treated if they are diagnosed. I am determined to do all in my power to end this post code lottery for the treatment of prostate cancers.

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ANATOMY OF A DISEASE The prostate is a small gland in men which activates sperm. It lies beneath the bladder. There are 21,770 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed each year. It is the second most common cancer in men killing around 10,000 a year. The disease affects mostly men aged over 60. The causes are unknown but scientists believe environmental and genetic factors contribute to the disease. Men with a family history of the disease are more at risk and there is evidence to suggest that black men are at greater risk than white men. The warning signs include: difficulty in urinating, urinating more frequently or pain on urinating, blood in the urine and pain in your back or hips. Diagnosis usually involves a specialist ultrasound and a biopsy in which a tissue sample is taken. Doctors can also measure levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the blood which may indicate the disease. Treatment may include a prostatectomy to remove the prostate gland, radiotherapy, or hormone treatment to reduce the cancer. Famous sufferers include Roger Moore, Sir David Steele, Major Ronald Ferguson, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. For more advice and information contact the confidential Prostate Cancer Charity Helpline on 0845 300 8383 Or look at their website Click Here or write to: The Prostate Cancer Charity, 3 Angel Walk, Hammersmith, London, W6 9HX We all have a part to play

People are being asked to dig deep and raise £100,000 to help fight prostate cancer in Cheltenham.

Borough councillor Brian Chaplin has founded the Gloucestershire Prostate Cancer (Brachytherapy Unit) Trust to set up the centre at Cheltenham General Hospital which can be used to treat Prostate Cancer. The money will fund a brachytherapy unit - a system of treating the cancer with targeted radiotheraphy - for two years.

The government will then fund the unit if the need for it is proven.

Councillor Chaplin spoke of his own battle against the disease for the first time at the launch of the appeal at the Cheltenham Business Breakfast at The Queen's hotel.

We need to create humane treatment. Brachytherapy is a relatively new treatment which does not yet receive widespread government funding. Many sufferers of the disease choose to keep their illness quiet because of the stigma attached. Councillor Chaplin, handed a letter to all members of the club explaining how he was treated and what difference the centre would make.

He is currently being treated under the ‘wait and watch’ theory, where doctors wait for any development before deciding on what course of treatment to pursue.

Councillor Chaplin said: “There are two objectives to the campaign.

First is obviously to get a brachytherapy unit up and running and in turn I hope this will make Cheltenham a centre of excellence for prostate cancer.” Councillor Chaplin (Con, College), who was first elected a councillor in 1987, is Chairman of Gloucestershire Business Breakfast Club. Appealing to members of the business community, he said: “I’m not launching this campaign for my own purposes. But I am delighted to be the catalyst for the campaign. This is a great opportunity for businesses to put something back into our community. You can't do business when you are dead!”

Consultant urological surgeon Dr Hugh Gilbert, gave a slide show, illustrating how the cancer looks and can be treated. He said: “It’s important that all men are aware of their health, particularly in relation to prostate cancer. “We need to have a comprehensive service so all options are available for treatment.”

LAUNCH: Tim Harman, Chamber of Commerce Chairman, Town Mayor Clive Lloyd, Mr Hugh Gilbert, Coun. Brian Chaplin, Bernard Campbell, Chairman of Cheltenham North Rotary Club and Fiona Campbell, President of Cheltenham Rotaract.

Working to Save Lives

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Consultant, Mr Hugh Gilbert

Radioactive seeds are implanted through needles into the site of the cancer within the prostate.

Patients have to make two visits.

At the first visit the prostate is accurately ‘mapped’ and the exact sight of the tumour found through an ultrasound scan.

At the second visit the procedure is actually carried out.

Both procedures are carried out under general anaesthetic and patients can usually go home the next day.

The seeds, which are about the size of a grain of rice, work on the cancer over the coming weeks and months.

Due to the short amount of time required in hospital and the fact this treatment works on the precise site of the cancer it is considered to be less traumatic and have less side-effects than other treatments available.

Consultant Urological Surgeon Hugh Gilbert has been a working in Cheltenham for five years. He said: “The money will allow us to offer a service. We are trying to set up a comprehensive but humane service for the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer from the early stages sometimes right through to the inevitable death. Prostate cancer is the second largest cause of death in Britain after lung cancer.

The problem is there are an awful lot of men who live with it and die of unrelated causes. "For a man with early prostate cancer there are a number of options to consider. The only way of diagnosis is to carry out a biopsy by removing a small amount of tissue which will tell us if cancer is present. If it is then pathology can tell us how active it is and we can tell if it is going to cause a problem in the next five or 10 years.

The problem we have at the moment is that we can't offer a comprehensive service so patients have to pay to go out of the county.”

CLICK HERE » TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE PROSTATE CANCER (BRACHYHERAPY UNIT) TRUST

Should you wish to contact Brian Chaplin for more information. Brian may be contacted on mail@eurovideo.tv

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