Surgeon spreads awareness about prostate cancer to Southport students

Picture shows Greenbank students with Mr Rahul Mistry, right, Bev Lean, centre, and head teacher Ian Raikes 

More than 600 girls at a Southport high school heard about the risk of prostate cancer from an award-winning local surgeon.

Mr Rahul Mistry, Consultant Urological Surgeon at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, was speaking at Greenbank High School in Hillside.

Students heard about how cancer develops and more specifically about prostate cancer symptoms and treatment. The students also used the opportunity to ask about careers in medicine.

Mr Mistry was invited to speak by prostate cancer survivor Bev Lean from the school’s pastoral support team who is also chair of the Southport and West Lancashire Prostate Cancer Support Group.

A non-uniform day, students’ collection after the talk and other fund-raising has also raised more than £800 in aid of prostate cancer.

Bev said: “This may be a girls’ school but they’ve all got brothers, fathers and grandfathers and Rahul’s talk helped raise awareness of the symptoms and treatment of the disease.”

More than 40,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year. However, it is one of the most treatable cancers if caught early and 84% men who are diagnosed survive for 10 years or more.

Mr Mistry said: “Since approximately one-in-eight men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives, I feel it’s a very current topic to understand as most of these men will have no symptoms whatsoever. The topic of cancer can be a scary thought for children and it’s important for them to be able to talk about and comprehend what’s happening when a friend or family member is diagnosed with the disease.”

With colleague Dr Andrew Falzon, he recently won the Care of Older People Award at UK Patient Safety Congress and Awards in Birmingham for work on preventing kidney injury.

● Southport and West Lancashire Prostate Support Group meets on the first Thursday of the month between 7pm and 9pm, usually at Hurlston Hall in Ormskirk For more information call Bev on 01704 807945 or email bevplean@hotmail.com

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