Moderator Issues Cancer Check Plea

The incoming Moderator of the Church of Scotland has urged men to get checked for prostate cancer as he prepares to take up his role after treatment for the disease.

Reverend Dr Angus Morrison was nominated as Moderator of the General Assembly in 2013 but was forced to step aside due to his health.

He faced major surgery and long-term treatment, but has now recovered and will take up the role of Moderator next month.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with more than 10,000 dying every year in the UK.

Dr Morrison told Life and Work magazine: I had prostate cancer. I am full of gratitude to the team at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee who carried out my surgery. The doctors involved in my treatment are confident it has been successful.

I was overwhelmed by the number of people all over the Church who wrote to assure me of their prayers. I fully believe that this had its own impact on the situation.''

Dr Morrison is now encouraging any man with worries about his health to contact a doctor.

He told the Church of Scotland magazine: I am a man who is very slow to go to the doctor with anything and I would just encourage anyone with worries about the same sort of thing to go as soon as possible and have it checked it.

It can be easily treated. The important thing is to have it treated in good time.''

When he takes up his role next month, Dr Robertson will be the first Moderator of the Church to be a Gaelic speaker since Tom Murchison in 1969.