How choosing cancer screening over pub saved Shropshire man's life

Dave Norris was 52 when he went to the prostate cancer screening clinic run by the Bridgnorth Lions in 2019, but he had to be dragged there by his friend.

"My wife Clare had actually booked me in the year before, and she took me along on the night only to arrive at a yoga class. Apparently we had missed it by a week," Dave said.

"So the next year Clare booked it and wanted me to go. I really didn't, it was a miserable night, when my friend and I walked all the way there I thought we would be near the front of the queue as we went early.

"There was already a queue of several hundred guys, so I said to my mate 'let's just go to the pub, we'll have a couple of pints, and tell the girls that we went'."

Dave's mate was unconvinced and made sure he and a reluctant Dave received a blood test that night. Two weeks later Dave received his results, and was told to go to his doctor for more blood tests and a physical examination. The blood test suggested that there was an issue, while the physical exam revealed nothing untoward. All the while Dave felt physically as good as ever.

An MRI test would reveal all.

"The person doing the MRI scan told me that he could tell just by looking at it that there was something wrong," Dave said.

On Christmas Eve of 2019, Dave learned had stage three intermediate prostate cancer. He was given three options by his doctor. One - do nothing. Two - have a three-year course of radiotherapy. Or three - have his prostate removed. He opted for option three.

"I thought let's just have it out, I want it gone," Dave said.

"The doctor told me I could have it done robotically, which is a safer procedure, so I decided on that."

However, by this time it was early 2020 and Covid-19 was sweeping the globe. Dave and Clare went on holiday to India, and upon their return the UK went straight into lockdown, and all but the most urgent medical procedures were cancelled as the nation braced itself for the worst.

Dave was eventually placed on hormone replacement therapy which kept his cancer from spreading.

"I was looking at going private, I was looking at flying to the USA to have it done, I was looking at flying to India to have it done, but because of Covid I couldn't go anywhere.

"I was upset about it, then I was angry because I thought I was going to be leaving my wife, and then I accepted it and tried to remain positive," Dave explained.

"You just take yourself away and cry by yourself, it's like a big stab in the heart."

Dave was finally able to receive his surgery in June 2020 as restrictions relaxed. He was out of hospital in three days, and while still under the watchful eye of the NHS, is in the clear.

Since then, Dave takes any opportunity to tell friends to get tested, reminding them that he had no symptoms at all.

"If it wasn't for the cajoling from my wife and my friend, I wouldn't have gone. The Lions saved my life, and I cannot thank the NHS enough, they have been impeccable," he said.

Clare added: "It was such a surreal time. Emotionally it was very up and down. We are just so grateful to the Lions and to the NHS."