Robert Cargill, 62, had not had a simple prostate cancer screening test in 14 years when his doctor recommended it at a routine check-up.
It saved his life.
“When you’re first told you’ve got cancer, you think the worst,” Cargill said from his home overlooking the Matatā lagoon near Whakatāne in the Bay of Plenty.
It was just over two years after he was given the news, and he is glad to be alive.
He said he did not often go to the doctor but went for a routine check-up in July 2021.
He had no symptoms of prostate cancer but said his doctor suggested a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test due to his age.
The results came back abnormal and after further investigations - a digital examination, MRI scan and biopsy - he was diagnosed with localised prostate cancer later that month.
The cancer cells had not yet metastasised - spread - beyond the prostate gland.
Cargill said he believed that without the PSA test, he would have faced a “worst-case scenario”.
He was grateful his wife, Julie, went with him to see an oncologist and took notes.
“I was lucky my wife was there because when you have a consultation... everything just goes blank in your mind.”
He was given the treatment options of radiation therapy or surgery to remove his prostate.
Cargill chose surgery, undergoing a radical prostatectomy about three months later at Tauranga’s Grace Hospital.
Cargill, known by the nickname “Blue”, is telling his story this month to mark Blue September, the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s awareness month.
He said men were not “losing their manhood” by being checked for prostate cancer.
Cargill said some of the biggest issues of prostate cancer surgery were having a catheter for at least a week afterwards and erectile dysfunction - “a biggie for a lot of men”.
The alternative, however, was worse. Cargill said that many years ago men died of prostate cancer because “they didn’t even know they had it”.
His “most important message” was for men to “stop being afraid” and to get tested.
“When you’re getting blood tests just ask your GP to do the PSA tests. There’s a lot of stigma you’ve got to get a digital examination. You don’t need to [get one] unless there’s something abnormal.
“You may not have anything, but this saved my life,” he said.
“Get out there and do it.”
He said Blue September was not important to him until he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“That’s why I encouraged and I took my work colleagues and friends to go and get tested. If you can get rid of the problem early it’s [better].”
Cargill has made a full recovery from surgery. His most recent scans and blood tests came back with no cancer detectable.
“I’m still alive and kicking.”
This month, former Te Pāti Māori co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
On his Facebook page, he said the cancer was detected in a blood test during one of his six-monthly health check-ups.
“It was found in me earlier than most but the damn thing still spread itself quickly even in six months. It is in my body and luckily I have started treatment almost immediately to deal with it,” Flavell said.
He said he was leaning on “Western medicine, traditional Māori rongoā, and healers as well as other alternative therapies”.
“I have five more treatments to go through every three weeks. The treatment itself is straightforward forward but the side effects are not flash at all,” he said.
Prostate Cancer Foundation New Zealand chief executive Peter Dickens said prostate cancer was the most diagnosed cancer and second-most-common cancer death in men throughout New Zealand.
One in every eight New Zealand men would develop prostate cancer at some stage in their lifetime.
Dickens said about 4000 men would be diagnosed this year.
He said the foundation received no government funding.
Blue September was its biggest fundraising event and it hoped to raise more than $1 million.
“Every cent” would be used to provide “essential wrap-around support services for men and their whānau living with prostate cancer”.
Often, prostate cancer does not cause symptoms, especially in the early stages. It can remain undetected for some time and still not cause symptoms.
Men aged over 50 should ask their doctors for a PSA blood test at their next routine check-up. Men with a known family history of prostate cancer should begin testing at age 40, as they may be at higher risk.
Source: Prostate Cancer Foundation
Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.
The couple spend five months a year in America running their business.