The Walnut Group are hosting free PSA tests for males this Saturday 23rd March at Deepdale and are encouraging anybody who has any signs of Prostate Cancer to come along and get checked.
Many Preston North End supporters will turn up at Deepdale most Saturdays to will their beloved team on to victory, but a trip to the stadium next Saturday may prove to be the biggest individual win of them all as Stephen Porter discovered six months ago.
It was after a PSA test at Deepdale in October 2018 when the alarm bells started as Stephen was advised to make an appointment with his GP.
“It was a rainy, Saturday October morning and I had an appointment for a flu jab at the Doctor’s surgery anyway” recalled Stephen. “As I was leaving the house my wife reminded me that the Walnut Group were doing PSA testing at Deepdale. I went out of the door and received my flu jab; I’m not sure what it was but I remember feeling a sense of achievement about getting the flu jab done which I suppose gave me the confidence to go to Deepdale. It was peeing down with rain and I’ve got nothing else on so I’ll go to Preston North End.”
“My wife saw an advertisement in the Lancashire Post; We both knew there was something wrong. I was getting up so many times in the middle of the night so it took two of us really for me to eventually go.
“I went in and there was a bit of queue, and I nearly turned away and went home but I stuck at it and had some blood taken. It was a straightforward process once I’d had it done.”
The series of events which eventually encouraged Stephen to receive the test was a blessing in disguise as he was warned from there that he had an elevated PSA reading.
“The way the Walnut group do it is you received a yellow and red card like you do in football and mine was a red card which meant my reading was high.
“The men’s side in my family couldn’t go so long without needing the toilet so I just put it down to it being heredity so I was still fairly relaxed about it all.
“I then went to see the GP and he sent me for another blood test which confirmed the PNE one and I was then referred to the Urology department.
“They sent me for an MRI scan and they discussed the MRI results which showed some shadows on my Prostate. The radiologist said there was a probability of Cancer which meant I then had to go for a Biopsy which is where I’m at now and I’ve got an appointment next week to discuss the results.”
Stephen is now recovering from his biopsy, but admits had it not been for the encouragement from his wife amongst other things, there’s a high chance that Stephen could still be living with the Cancer now.
“As soon as you see signs you should act upon it” added Stephen. “It was a combination of things for me - it was just the circumstances of the day, perhaps if it was a sunny day I maybe wouldn’t have bothered getting it done.
“There’s so much more awareness of Prostate Cancer now thank goodness. We just thought it was the ‘Porter’s waterworks’ with me before the diagnosis. You can actually have Prostate Cancer where the Cancer is so slow growing and it doesn’t affect you but in other cases it can of course be different. If It hadn’t had been for my wife who encouraged me to go then I guess I never would have known what would have happened.”
Get yourself tested on Saturday 23rd March from 10.30am to 12.30pm at Deepdale at the man entrance to the Greats' Room. For enquiries, call 07891521348.