As Jools Holland shares prostate cancer diagnosis – the six signs to never ignore

MUSICIAN Jools Holland has spoken for the first time about his prostate cancer diagnosis.

The 64-year-old was told he had the illness in 2014 after going for a routine blood test.

2

2

It is now understood he is cancer free but is urging others to learn the signs of the cancer in order to save lives.

He said: "Thankfully I was successfully treated, but if more people were aware of their risk and caught the disease early, then more lives would be saved.

“I had no awareness of prostate cancer, no symptoms that I noticed whatsoever until I was diagnosed following a routine blood test in 2014."

He is now working with charity  to raise awareness of the illness which is the most common form of cancer in British men.

One in eight British men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime and many will live long lives and not experience too many nasty symptoms.

But in others, their cancer will spread, which is when the disease can turn deadly.

Most read in Health

HIP OP SHOCK

Child obesity crisis deepens with kids as young as 10 having HIP REPLACEMENTS

BACKSIDE STORY

Gross but simple test reveals how fast your gut works and explains bloating

‘WITH THE ANGELS’

Teen dies after being ‘trapped in body of a child’ by rare disease

FOREVER YOUNG

Mum left in coma for 33 years after crash dies never knowing baby was killed

Prostate cancer currently kills over 9,000 men a year, with one man dying every hour from the cancer in England.

Worryingly the majority of men don't know anything about the disease and, of those that do have a shred of a clue, 60 percent aren't confident naming the signs and symptoms, according to a male cancer charity, Orchid.

A survey by Prostate Cancer UK previously revealed men over 45 knew the least about the killer disease and more than half of black African and Caribbean men did not know their ethnicity increased their risk.

Here are the 6 key symptoms you need to know:

1. Needing to urinate more often, especially at night
2. Needing to rush to the toilet
3. Difficulty in starting to pee
4. Straining and taking a long time while peeing
5. Feeling that your bladder hasn’t emptied fully
6. Weak flow

It's important to note though that these symptoms aren't always down to prostate cancer and if you're in doubt you should always get checked out by your GP.

Many men’s prostates get larger as they age because of the non-cancerous conditions, prostate enlargement, and benign prostatic hyperplasia.

In fact, these two conditions are more common than prostate cancer – but that doesn’t mean the symptoms should be ignored.

The signs that cancer has SPREAD include bone, back, or testicular pain, loss of appetite, and unexplained weight loss.

Prostate cancer is very common, and the causes are largely unknown.

Most cases occur in men aged 50 or over, while prostate cancer is more common in men of African or Caribbean descent, and less common in Asian guys.

There's also a familial link, so having a dad or brother who had prostate cancer increases your risk.

Recent research suggests obesity increases your risk of prostate cancer while exercising regularly lowers it.

READ MORE SUN STORIES

what a pair

Love Island stars FINALLY admit they’re a couple after two years of dating

MIDNIGHT FEAST

I was on Come Dine with Me - I couldn't believe how how much we got paid

A high-calcium diet is also thought to increase your risk while eating cooked tomatoes and Brazil nuts could lower it, but more research is needed into the effect of diet.

And research conducted in Australia suggests drinking just two pints of beer a day increases man's risk by a QUARTER.