Published: Wednesday, 30th April, 2008 12:00
West Kilbride man beats cancer - and mountains
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A brave West Kilbride pensioner battled back from killer prostate cancer to climb the highest peaks - and is now campaigning to raise awareness of the disease.
Peter Robinson, 69, was diagnosed in 2004, and feared his quality of life would be vastly reduced or that he might be among the 10,000 it claims every year.
The keen hillwalker, who had climbed 74 Munros prior to the onset of the disease, also feared that he might have to put an end to his favourite pastime for good.
However, only eight weeks after undergoing surgery, Peter - a retired technology manager for Scottish Nuclear - was back up the hills, and standing at the peak of Schiehallion, the 3554ft mountain in Perthshire.
Amazingly, he has now climbed some 240 Munros, and is desperate to complete every last one.
Speaking on the relief he felt after his amazingly speedy recovery, Peter said: “You can’t begin to imagine how that felt. Before I had thought about myself as a sad old man stuck in the corner not being able to do anything, but the reality was nothing like that.
“It’s a good feeling when you can do it and you get real pleasure out of it.
“There’s no better place to be than being on top of a mountain enjoying the view and just giving thanks for being alive.”
New research shows that men still aren’t taking the threat of prostate cancer seriously enough.
A poll of men aged over 45, commissioned by the Prostate Cancer Charity, found that 28 per cent believed it was normal for men their age to make frequent visits to the toilet during the night.
And an astonishing 22 per cent said they wouldn’t go in case it meant they had prostate cancer.
Peter, who was diagnosed after blood tests from an unrelated visit to a urologist, says that has to change.
Tests confirmed that Peter’s cancer had been caught at its earliest stages, but keen to find out more, he attended a Prostate Cancer Charity conference in London with his wife, Sue.
He said: “Going to this conference and talking to people who were very open about their own experiences made me realise it wasn’t the end of life as I knew it. It’s just a hiccup on the way.
“It was great to talk to patients and medical staff such as GPs and consultants, so I came back far more knowledgeable.”
Thanks to his early diagnosis, Peter had a range of possible treatments open to him such as surgery and radiotherapy, but with many treatments for prostate cancer, there’s a risk of side effects such as impotence and incontinence.
Peter said: “It’s like being asked if you want to be hung, drawn, or quartered, as you don’t really fancy any of them.
“But you own that decision, and it puts you in a far stronger position to have the treatment that you need.”
Peter opted to have his prostate removed using laparoscopic surgery, where the surgeon uses a robot which offers greater dexterity.
He said: “It’s quite a new treatment in this country. I asked the surgeon what he would choose if it was him, and he came up with that option.
“If someone tells you you have cancer when you don’t have any symptoms and you feel fine, but you’re told you’ll need treatment which could affect your continence and your sex life, it’s not much of a prospect.
“So the less damage that’s caused, the better your quality of life after the event.”
Peter and Sue have also become involved in the Prostate Cancer Charity in an effort to raise awareness of the disease.
“If you know it’s there and you know what the problems are you can look out for them and get help and advice while it’s still early.
“If you’re going to have any symptoms at all they are likely to be urinary, such as having to visit the toilet frequently during the night, or feeling that you need to go and finding that nothing happens.
“A lot of men think that’s just what happens when you get old, but that’s not how it works.”
For more information, visit www.prostate-cancer.org.uk
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