Me and my father were both diagnosed with prostate cancer: This is why screening would benefit those most at risk - like my two sons

For Dafydd Charles, a prostate cancer screening programme makes perfect sense – particularly as his adult sons approach an at-risk demographic.

Mr Charles, 67, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease shortly after retiring as a risk manager in nuclear and radiation safety in 2017.

Yet he had been given the all-clear only a few years earlier after being examined by a doctor following his fathers diagnosis. 

Mr Charles elected to have robotic surgery, followed by hormone therapy, chemotherapy and radical pelvic radiotherapy. He has been disease-free since, and has recently welcomed his first grandchild.

But he said a nationwide test on the NHS would encourage men to come forward and get checked.

Mr Charles, from Oxfordshire, admits he is already thinking about whether his sons David, 33, and Michael, 29, will get prostate cancer, given that their father and grandfather had it. 

Research suggests that men are two-and-a-half times more likely to get prostate cancer if their father or a brother has had it.

Mr Charles said: I think persuading them to have a blood test would satisfy me in terms of what their likelihood of being at risk is.

Prostate cancer campaigner Dafydd Charles (centre) pictured with sons Michael (left) and David (right)

Mr Charles (pictured) said it made sense to roll out a screening programme to prevent deaths for some of the most fatal forms of the disease

I will of course be badgering them to get tested once they approach their 40s as their risks are double that of the average man.

But it is far more satisfactory if they are invited by the NHS as part of a targeted screening initiative as this gives more authority to it all. 

Mr Charles said it made sense to roll out a screening programme to prevent deaths for some of the most fatal forms of the disease.

Theres a great need for it. I have spoken to lots of people who are, I would say, in an at-risk group but they cannot get anywhere with their GP because they dont have any symptoms.

Were not suggesting looking at everybody – its targeted on age, family history and other things that make certain men more at risk.

We have screening for things like bowel cancer and breast cancer – now is the time for there to be similar for prostate cancer, given how many men each year are affected by it.

Mr Charles added: I have a friend my age and every time I say to him to go along to the doctor and have a chat, you can see the horror on his face. He thinks what you dont know cant harm you, the ostrich with his head in the sand.

So I think a test – a simple test, that would not just give you the answer but is likely to have a low error bar – would be brilliant.