1,000 men sign up for prostate cancer tests in Burgess Hill as Lions Club and support group organise special event

The Burgess Hill District Lions Club has teamed up with the Prostate Cancer Support Organisation to hold PCaSO’s testing day on Saturday, November 16 (10am-3.45pm), at The Triangle.

The PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test event is for men between the ages of 40 and 80 and will be the seventh one that the Lions have helped facilitate.

Burgess Hill Lions member Alan Ranger said: “Each of the tests costs about £12 so if we get 1,000 people as we’re expecting you can see that’s a £12,000 cost.”

He said the Lions are asking men getting tested to make a donation on the day if possible.

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Alan continued: “It is a means of saving lives because we know it will. A thousand men tested, most of those might be coming for their first PSA test. If that’s the case, more than 100 of those, we know, will have a high reading. With about ten of them, it may well save their life.”

Alan said the two groups have been putting the word out about this event via social media and posters around the town over the past few weeks. He called the number of men who have signed up already ‘incredible’, saying: “We’re quite proud of it.”

Alan explained that the procedure for someone who has pre-booked will take about ten minutes and involves a phlebotomists taking a small amount of blood to test.

He said: “If people haven’t pre-booked it is still worth them coming along because, though they may have to wait, they can still get a slot because we want them to have the blood test.”

“(PSA) blood tests are not routinely offered by the NHS or GPs,” Alan added, saying his father died as a result of prostate cancer.

Alan stressed the importance of men over the age of 40 getting this test and pointed to the news that Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy has been diagnosed with primary cancer in his prostate, which he recently revealed is terminal.