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My Health Diary

11th, January, 2010

My Health Diary

In a diary written for the Mail on Sunday and published on 10th January 2010, Andrew reveals details of his cancer diagnosis, and subsequent treatment.

In the diary, Andrew says, “With hindsight I realise that I noticed the first symptoms of my cancer last summer, though I didn’t know that’s what they were.”

On September 24th 2009 Andrew was referred to a specialist and underwent a biopsy that came back positive. He was told that the cancer had been caught early and after discussing all the treatment options he decided to undergo a Prostatectomy to remove his prostate gland.

The operation was a success, and the cancer was removed, but unfortunately for Andrew this was not the end of his treatment. “I had had appendicitis when I was three. This clearly had been removed by a bloke with a meat cleaver. The scar tissue was so thick and tough that you could use it to shore up the leaning tower of Pisa. Scarring within the abdominal cavity makes it much harder to access the prostate, so it all had to be dealt with by painstaking dissection.”

It was also found that Andrew had an underlying e-coli infection, which was causing him pain and took time to cure. However as Andrew says, “If that infection had been found and cured, I could have been blissfully unaware that I had a cancerous tumour that was on the verge of breaking loose around the rest of my body. I could have thought that my frequent peeing was due to a weak bladder. I have been bloody lucky.

“I say to every red-blooded male, if you do begin to have a problem down under, however embarrassing, go to your GP at once. Even if you don’t have any symptoms, if you are over 50 get regular PSA tests.

“Most importantly, I am alive, my children have a father and, some may say regrettably, I am now fighting fit, ready to bring you “Love Never Dies” and my TV series to cast Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” and to argue with the BBC who want to call the series “Over The Rainbow” when I want to call it “The Oz Factor”. I hope to win that battle too.”

To read the full article, please click here.

_A £10,000 donation to Prostate UK has been made by the Mail on Sunday in place of a fee._