Wiltshire prostate cancer survivor calls for national screening process
Alphonso Archer says the current system is a 'postcode lottery'
A prostate cancer survivor from Wiltshire has joined calls for a national screening programme to equalise the process of getting treatment.
A petition with over 135,000 signature has been delivered to Government this week by Prostate Cancer Research.
Alphonso Archer told Greatest Hits Radio getting a diagnosis can be a 'postcode lottery' - as he and his brother found out.
"We were both experiencing symptoms at the same time," Alphonso said.
After badgering his GP into referring him for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, Alphonso got his diagnosis which also allowed him to catch the cancer early, affording him more treatment options.
"My GP's were very supportive," he said, "Whereas my brother's GP wasn't. And it took a year and a half of pushing and really fighting, before he was actually diagnosed."
The pair, both made recoveries but Alphonso's brother had fewer treatment options available to him as a result of the delayed process.
Removing the 'informed choice'
Alphonso told us that a national screening programme would bring 'equality' to the process and remove the need for knowledge of family history before going for a check-up.
He said his father had suffered with prostate cancer - but he'd only found out once his father had passed away - although that wasn't prostate cancer related.
It made him wonder about why his dad hadn't spoken about it and after researching the illness, Alphonso discovered 1 in 8 men will get the disease - but this is slashed in half among black men to 1 in 4.
"As far as black African men are concerned, it's our genetic Achilles heel. It's a genetic mutation that's happened," Alphonso said.
But without that knowledge of his father's illness, Alphonso would have been left in the dark.
He said: "Prostate cancer testing is very much based on what we call informed choice. Iif you know about it, you know you've got that information or you've got the benefit of someone telling you about it, then you go to your GP and ask for a PSA test but you need to know about that.
"And because with prostate cancer, there can be no symptoms, you can have the disease, but you just don't know about it. So how would you know to ask for a test if you don't have any further information?"
Alphonso is urging men 45 and over to understand their family history and look out for some of the few symptom's which include lower back pain and urinary issues.