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74 MEN’S HEALTH
immediate loss of sexual function,
which can then return over time.
Radiotherapy affects urinary frequency
and urgency – generally a short-lived
side-effect – but it’s slower to impact
sexual function. Considering prostate
cancer affects many men later in life,
this isn’t always the cause for horror
you might imagine. An estimated
45% of patients already experience
some form of sexual dysfunction.
Even if your cancer is advanced or
aggressive enough to warrant a radical
prostatectomy – the removal of the
prostate – the odds are still in your
favour. Yes, you’ll be sterile, but you’ll
have a good chance of recovery.
Prostate cancer may be curable, but
that comes with a caveat: it needs to be
caught in time. “The problems occur
when people don’t go to the doctor in
the first place,” says Cahill. “Yesterday, I
operated on a patient whose father died in
his fifties, yet he waited until he was in his
late forties to have his PSA done. It’s hard
to believe that, in this day and age, people
in that situation would wait to get tested.”
TURNING THE TIDE
Five years ago, I set up an initiative called
Father and Son Day with my friend Daniel
Marks. As well as increasing awareness –
with the support of partners such as Men’s
Health – we’ve raised money for the Royal
Marsden Cancer Charity. Part of it has gone
towards therapy and support for young
men with cancer, but we’ve also financed
THE INSIDE TRACT
Dyson and Marks
are two friends
who have survived
testicular cancer.
They are also friends
whose fathers had
cancer – who have
dealt with hospitals,
helplines and
hospices, and who
know first-hand that
too many men suffer
in silence, rather than seek support.
They set up their charity, Father
and Son Day, to change that.“Men are becoming much
braver about talking about their
health,” says Marks. “In the five
years since we launched the
campaign, we are making a real
difference. We have watched
operations that our campaign has
funded. We have seen social media
come alive with discussions around
men’s health. But we have a long
way to go. Jack and I both survived
cancer. We talk openly about it. We
need more men to do the same.”
Alongside helping to fund
robo-surgery fellowships, their
work has also raised money for
a programme that supports
specialist clinical psychologists
for young men affected by cancer,
giving them the tools to cope with
their diagnosis and treatment.GAME CHANGER # 3
THE
ACTIVISTS
Jack Dyson and Daniel Marks,
founders of Father and Son Dayrobotic surgery fellowships, which provide
training for the next generation of super-
surgeons. These machine-assisted
procedures, using miniaturised surgical
instruments, are transforming how cancer
operations are carried out, and both their
short- and long-term outcomes.
There’s a long way to go, but momentum
is building. “We have also made great
strides in radiotherapy in the past 10 years,”
says Dr Nicholas van As, medical director
and consultant clinical oncologist at the
Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
Side-effects are now far fewer, and a new
technique called stereotactic radiotherapy- which includes “CyberKnife”, a painless,
non-invasive treatment – will potentially
reduce the average number of hospital
visits for radiation treatment from 37
per patient to about five. Studies on the
genetics of prostate cancer are exciting,
too, and will give better risk prediction.
Yet awareness of male cancers is still
behind the curve. Since the late 1990s,
04
06
04-06\ Due to its
precision, robo-
surgery causes
far less damage
than conventional
methods. The
subject of this
procedure was
discharged the
next day
07 \ Kumar at the
console of the Da
Vinci robot