It’s Men’s Health Week and if ever there was a time to talk about testicles and prostates, this is it. However, sadly it seems that the one week of the year dedicated to men’s wellbeing slipped under the radar in 2021, dashed off the front pages and obliterated from Twitter by the likes of Covid, Cummings and the Euros.
For the 50 percent of the UK population owning testicles and prostates, though, the issues Men’s Health Week aims to highlight aren’t going anywhere. As someone who was diagnosed with prostate cancer aged 40, I know all too well how much of an impact male-specific cancer, and the resulting mental health burdens, can have on life.
Taking time to raise awareness of these issues is therefore vital, so it saddens me to see that there’s more interest in Boris Johnson’s use of WhatsApp this week than there is in helping men to know when they should make an appointment to see their GP.
But the problem doesn’t all lie with BoJo. We also need to take responsibility for our lackadaisical attitude to our own health and wellbeing. Almost two thirds of people – the majority being men – don’t, for instance, bother to attend the free NHS health check to which they are invited after turning 40.
I did attend mine and it was there, through a simple blood test, that my symptom-less cancer was detected. Had I not turned up for the health check and left it until my 45-year invite, my cancer would have been incurable and, my consultant bluntly told me, I would have been dead by 50.
Now, what happened to me is thankfully rare, so there’s every chance that your health check will confirm nothing more sinister than the fact that you drink too much and need to exercise more. But, for the sake of a 15-minute check-up and the opportunity to pee into a pot, isn’t it worth the lecture? If anything, just to rule out any unexpected nasties that could otherwise scupper your mid-life plans. And while you’re at it, why not spend an extra two minutes in the shower checking your balls tomorrow morning?
Men’s Health Week may well be drawing to a close, but, men, it’s your year-round responsibility to look after your own health. Don’t let other plans or embarrassment get in the way of ensuring you have a future. So, book your health check, check your bits yourself and, if unsure, get them checked out by your doctor.
Oh, and check out my new book, The Running Drug, which – through assorted ramblings on my own experiences of prostate cancer and the London Marathon – celebrates the power of running as a means to tackle the physical and psychological impact of the big C.
OUT NOW: The Running Drug, by Tim Beynon. Available in ebook and paperback from Amazon: http://viewbook.at/TheRunningDrug
