YOUR recent coverage of issues relating to prostate cancer highlights the mixed fortunes of the 1 in 8 men affected by this terrible disease.
Last week we read the good news that Moderator-Designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Dr Angus Morrison, has overcome the disease ("Church leader in cancer warning ", The Herald, April 23). With prostate cancer so often being symptomless in its early stages he is right to urge other men to consider speaking to their GP about the disease. This is particularly important for men aged over 50, black men and men whose father or brother has had the disease - who are at a higher risk.
Less encouraging is the news, also rightly highlighted in The Herald, that men with an incurable form of the disease are to be denied access to the life-prolonging and life-enhancing drug abiraterone before chemotherapy on NHS Scotland ("Review decision to reject cancer treatment, says drugs firm", The Herald, April 15). This was despite emphatic support from clinicians and from patients, who told Prostate Cancer UK they would feel "cheated", "dismayed", "marginalised" and "abandoned" in the event of SMC rejection of the drug. But rejected it was. Men for whom time is at a premium must now face an agonising wait on the outcome of an appeal against this cruel decision.
The conclusions from these two stories are clear. For more positive outcomes, like Dr Morrison's, men in higher risk groups should speak to their GP or call Prostate Cancer UK's nurses on 0800 074 8383 about their own situation. For men, like me, for whom no cure is possible, the SMC's rejection of abiraterone before chemotherapy simply must be overturned. And soon.
Alister Walker,
Chairman and volunteer, Perth & Kinross Prostate Cancer Support Group,
1 Garry Place, 7 Toberargan Road, Pitlochry.
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