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Preston man says
patients are getting a raw deal with prostate cancer treatment
TO mark World Cancer Day, a patient who has recently
undergone treatment for prostate cancer has claimed the NHS is giving men in
the UK a raw deal. Lloyd Bantleman has founded the
website to stop men suffering the stress and trauma
when trying to find the right course of treatment for prostate cancer that
he did.
Lloyd, who lives in Preston, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November
2014 and spent 5 months going from his GP to various hospitals for scans and
biopsies to be eventually told by the lead consultant that his best option
was surgery to remove the prostate and then'get on with his life'.
When Lloyd researched the side effects of surgery and radiotherapy, he found
that there was around 50% chance of major bladder and bowel problems
afterwards.
Lloyd came across the Proton Therapy Center as he had heard the story about
Ashya King, the young boy whose parents took him over to Prague for
treatment against UK doctors' advice. Within 2 weeks of finding the website,
he had visited the center where he was given impartial information and
advice about all the options available to him, including Proton Beam
Therapy. Lloyd was impressed by the high success rate of the Proton Therapy
Center and the fact that there was only a very minor risk of suffering side
effects afterwards from this form of radiotherapy. Lloyd spent three weeks
in Prague undergoing five factions of treatment and was back to work a week
after returning home, with no side effects.
Lloyd Bantleman said:- "At no point did the NHS tell me about the
option of Proton Beam Therapy; because it's not currently available for
prostate cancer in the UK. It seems so wrong that particularly British men
get a raw deal when it comes to receiving 21st century cancer treatment.
Even the new proton centres being planned to open in the UK in 2017 will not
treat this very common male cancer."
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. Over 42,000 men
are diagnosed every year in the UK and there are around 10,500 deaths occur
from it. 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer at some point in their
lifetime. And for males of black African or Caribbean descent, the risks are
even higher with 1 in 4 men at risk of developing the disease.
Lloyd continues:-
"The best part is that I've had no side effects,
just as the doctors at the center in Prague explained to me, the risks are
very low. When I returned home I was determined to do something to make it
easier for other patients to access the right information, particularly men
who are diagnosed with prostate cancer. I created the website
CompareCancerTreatment.co.uk, which gives independent, impartial information
on cancer treatments and signposts patients to relevant sources of more
information. My reason for setting up this non-profit making website is so
that men and women have access to all the information relating to their type
of cancer, to be able to make an informed judgement. If this helps just one
person to reduce the stress and anxiety caused when seeking treatment for
cancer, then I've achieved what I set out to do."
UK-trained Professor Hiten Patel said:-
"Men with prostate cancer now
have a new option with proton therapy; an option that offers a high success
rate as well as a low risk of side effects; and therefore a greater chance
of preserving full quality of life after the conclusion of treatment."
Lloyd is now aiming to raise awareness amongst GPs and other medical
professionals in the UK about Proton Beam Therapy as well as letting
patients in the UK know about the wider options available to them. For more
information, visit the
website.
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