Ted's a Survivor
Ted’s a survivor …. thanks to his wife!
When Bristol bus driver Ted Joyce was invited to have a prostate cancer test he thought he didn’t need it as he felt so healthy.
He only went because his wife Carol “nagged” the life out of him – but it was a decision that quite literally saved his life.
The PSA blood test at the Knowle Walk-In Centre revealed he had the disease, but fortunately it was caught early enough. Eight weeks of radiotherapy was enough to kill off the cancer cells and he didn’t need his prostate removed.
Ted, who’s 61 and works part-time on the City Sightseeing open top buses in Bristol, still has regular check ups and is now generally healthy, but it could have been so different.
Mrs Joyce said: “It saved his life really. I was convinced he would go and we wouldn’t hear anything else about it, but the urologist said that for somebody of Ted’s age the cancer was quite advanced.”
Having seen her husband fight the disease, Mrs. Joyce felt it was important to enter this year’s Run for the Future and several of their children and grandchildren will be taking part in the 5km event on Sunday, 7 November.
More than 10,000 men in the UK die every year from prostate cancer, but there is no national screening programme. Men have to ask their GP’s for a PSA blood test.
Run for the Future, which is organised by Bristol Rotarians, has raised more than £100,000 over the past two years for the BUI Bristol Prostate Cancer Appeal and the money is being used to fund vital research into the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
For further information, or to take part in the event, visit the website at www.runforthefuture.org or phone the Run for the Future office on 0117 9596328 for a Registration form.
