Former UK PM David Cameron’s reveals cancer diagnosis
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he had prostate cancer.
The diagnosis motivated him to speak out in favor of a targeted screening program for the most common cancer in men in the UK.
Cameron was urged to get tested by his wife, Samantha, after the pair heard Soho House founder Nick Jones talk about his experience with cancer on the radio a year ago, the Times reported.
A prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, MRI scan, and then a biopsy were performed, confirming the diagnosis.
“You’re always afraid to hear those words,” he told the Times.
“And then it’s literally coming out of the doctor’s mouth and you think, ‘Oh, no, he’s going to say it. He’s going to say it. Oh my God, he said it.'”
“This is something we really need to think about, talk about and, if necessary, take action.”
Cameron advocates offering screening to high-risk men.
“I would like to add my name to the long list of people calling for a targeted screening program,” he said.
“I don’t particularly like discussing my personal health issues, but I feel like I have to.
“Let’s be honest. Men aren’t very good at talking about their health. We tend to procrastinate.
“We’re embarrassed to talk about something like the prostate because it’s so intricately linked to sexual health and everything else,” he said.
For treatment, he received focal therapy, in which electrical pulses target and destroy cancer cells.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with around 55,000 new cases each year.
There is no screening program for prostate cancer in the UK due to concerns about the accuracy of PSA tests.
“There are respectable arguments against a screening programme,” Cameron admitted.
“You always have to think about how many cases we discover, how many misdiagnoses there are and how many people will be treated unnecessarily.
“But… circumstances are changing. The arguments are changing, and so it’s a really good moment to look at this again.”
Cameron’s announcement comes just days after the first eligible men in the UK were invited to take part in a major trial testing the most promising screening techniques for the disease.
Cameron served as prime minister from 2010 to 2016 and resigned after advocating a ‘No’ vote in the Brexit referendum when the country voted to leave the European Union.
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