Colleagues and friends Liz and Ellen are running the London Landmarks Half Marathon on 6 April 2025 for a cause very close to their hearts. Both have dads who have been battling prostate cancer which has been, and still is, a long and tough journey for them and their families.

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Liz's Story

Several years ago, my dad was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer which culminated in a complicated operation for its removal in 2016. The recovery was very slow and left my dad with some difficult and permanent side effects. That said, he bounced back as well as he could and we all knew how lucky we were to have him home. Some years later, the doctor told him the cancer was back and it was recommended he embark on 18 months of hormone treatment and undergo 5 weeks of radiotherapy that was carried out in Jan 2024. In October this year, we will known if the treatment has been successful; according to the doctors, it's a 57% success rate. My family hope this will be the year we can close the door on cancer but we have a bit of waiting and praying to do until then whilst dad continues his hormone treatment. At the moment, dad's doing well and keeping in high spirits despite all of this. This is largely due to the timely care he's received and the early diagnosis thanks to regular checks and my mum dragging him along to the doctors all those years ago when "something didn't feel right".

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Ellen's Story

I remember speaking to Dad on holiday, and him feeling not well and losing weight. He didn’t want to find out anything was wrong before the holiday, but when he got home, he went straight to the doctors and they were brilliant: doing lots of tests and finding that his PSA levels were really high. What followed was pretty confusing: lots of different cancer types, outcomes and treatment options; with different success rates and side effects. It felt like helping Dad to choose between “the best of a bad bunch”. The doctors decided that Dad was going to have an operation to remove his prostate as the cancer was on the edge of his prostate and may not be contained, and he turned up to the hospital for this purpose. On the operating table, they did a scan and found that previous operations he’d had meant that this wouldn’t work, sending Dad home feeling even more confused and anxious. The alternative was radiotherapy, combined with a hormone treatment. Dad decided to retire at this point: with the toll of all the hormones and mountain of radiotherapy appointments looming ahead. He ticked them off, one by one, and his wonderful friends and my mum and sister helped him to navigate the emotional rollercoaster induced by the hormone therapy. Dad thankfully has been told he’s 99% in the all clear, but the side effects still remain. We are so thankful that Dad’s cancer got found early and that he has some great friends who he could talk to who had been through a similar experience, and that now he can begin to enjoy his retirement.

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We want to use this as an opportunity to raise awareness for prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer in men in the UK. The following stats are taken from the Prostate Cancer UK website and refer to the UK population:

- 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime

- More than 50,000 are diagnosed every year and more than 12,000 die

- Around 510,000 are living with and after prostate cancer

Get to know the signs and symptoms by visiting the charity page and remember to regularly check and get tested if you're unsure!