“When I was diagnosed, it was too late – mine had already spread.”
Kevin Kibble is one of the tens of thousands of men across the UK to have been diagnosed with prostate cancer in recent years. It is now slowly killing him.
“I will live with it as long as I possibly can – but will die from it,” he told Sky News. “It’s a terminal diagnosis.”
He spoke to The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee about his experience as calls grow for a national screening programme for prostate cancer.
More than 120 MPs, including former prime minister Rishi Sunak, have called on the health secretary to introduce a scheme after another ex-PM, Lord David Cameron, revealed he’d had treatment for the disease.
Mr Kibble found out he had prostate cancer in 2023, despite having no symptoms.
Being north of 50 years old and a family history of other cancers put him in the “high-risk” category.
“Both my sister and my mother died from breast cancer, and my mother’s brother had died from prostate cancer,” he said. “And I didn’t know the links between those cancers – and I should have been aware.”
“If people were more aware, maybe a few more people would get tested,” he added.
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‘The evidence is clear’
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with about 55,000 new cases every year.
Figures from Prostate Cancer UK suggest that about one in eight men will have this disease in their lifetime.
In a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, a cross-party group of MPs says those in the most deprived areas are the most likely to die from it.
Black men and those with a family history of prostate, breast or ovarian cancer are also at higher risk.
The UK’s National Screening Committee is assessing whether a national screening programme should be rolled out, amid concerns over the accuracy of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests that are used.
But Mr Sunak, who is a Prostate Cancer Research ambassador, said: “The evidence is now clear. Modern diagnosis is safer, more accurate, and has removed the harms that once justified inaction.”
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Mr Kibble told Sky News that men should feel reassured by how simple it is to be tested.
The NHS says over-50s can ask their GP for a PSA test, which is a blood test that can indicate if there’s a potential problem with the prostate.
“If you’re in a high-risk group, you should be tested at least once a year,” said Mr Kibble. “And men over 50 should be tested once a year anyway.”
Men can also take a simple online test to find out their risk levels. “It takes 30 seconds,” Mr Kibble added.
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‘Go and get a test’
Mr Streeting has previously suggested he would support a programme for men at higher risk if backed by evidence.
For Mr Kibble, he now relies on a daily course of hormone treatment to live with the disease – an injection every 12 weeks and tablets every day.
“Had I been picked up by a screening programme, the NHS wouldn’t be picking up the bill for my treatment,” he said.
His message is simple: “You’re entitled to a test – go and get one.”
