Grandfather left with reduced life expectancy following prostate cancer diagnosis delay calls for lessons to be learned
A man left with a reduced life expectancy following a near two-year prostate cancer diagnosis delay is calling for lessons to be learned.
John Mason, of Rugeley, was referred by a GP to the urology department at Queen’s Hospital in Burton-upon-Trent with a significant increase of the protein prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in his blood – a possible sign of the disease.
He had also experienced blood in his semen, which is another symptom of prostate cancer.
However, following an examination, John, who had been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate in 2014, was told there was nothing suspicious.
He continued to have a raised PSA level for more than a year.
Around 20 months after being sent to Queen’s Hospital, he was referred again.
Following tests, the dad-of-three and granddad-of-four was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2018.
The former electrical engineer had surgery, but his cancer then returned and had spread to his spine and ribs.
He was told that radiotherapy would not be able to treat the cancer that had spread and John now requires hormone injections for life to try and limit the cancer’s growth.
