As with most of us men of a certain age, I confess that I shied away from getting any regular testing, apart from that which my GP insisted on, and I was almost adverse to listening to the subject of Prostate Cancer. As such I was unaware that Prostate Cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in the UK.

I attended a Lodge meeting in London at which I had a discussion with a Brother who told me of his dealings with a blood test (PSA) which is used as a first line of defence in spotting Prostate Cancer. He shared with me that although he did not have the disease, he was being closely monitored. Before we parted he forcibly encouraged me to ask for a PSA test from my GP.

As it happed I was due my yearly blood tests and although I had no symptoms whatsoever, I asked if a PSA blood test could be included. It was, and the result was that I had a raised PSA level, this lead to biopsies being taken and within very short order I was informed that I had three cancerous tumours in my Prostate.

To cut a long story short I had a Robotically Assisted Radical Prostatectomy (removal of the Prostate using a Robot) last August. As we were in Lockdown I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the surgery and I am pleased to say that the operation was a success.

We hear a lot about the work that the likes of Prostate Cancer UK and other Charities carry out  but I had never had cause before to be close to, and be helped by such a Charity. The help and support that I received from Prostate Cancer UK was simply fantastic. Moreover, my eyes were opened to the amount of research that they carry out which in turn, feeds into the wonderful work done by the Surgeons and Nurses in our irreplaceable Hospitals, in my case the Hospital was Coventry and Warwickshire University Hospital. The treatment I received simply saved my life.

As is the case when major things happen, I have been reflecting on my experience over the last 12 months and have resolved to try and give something back. With this in mind, now that I am getting my strength back, I have decided to walk 11,000 steps every day in April in an effort to raise some badly needed cash to help fund the work of Prostate Cancer UK and I ask my Brothers and Companions to help me to do just that by contributing what you can to our Just Giving page.

I thank you all in advance for whatever help you are able to give and would like to leave you with just one message: don't ignore this disease as I did, please get yourselves tested".

Rob Wootton