UPDATE - Issue 11 - April 2002
This one could run and run!
The idea of running for the Prostate Research Campaign UK in the London Marathon first arose when Andrew Etherington, a 60 year old retired banker with Barclays, was consulting me, Roger Kirby, in Harley St. one October morning. His prostate biopsies had come back positive but the bone scan was negative and I was discussing the pros and cons of a radical prostatectomy with him. 'But I was planning to enter the ballot for the 2000 London Marathon!' he said. 'Go ahead and put in your entry form - I'll sort out your prostate and then I'll run it with you' I rashly replied. Amazingly we both got places and were joined by Doug Davidson of Standard Chartered Bank, who had had his cancerous prostate successfully removed the year before. Together as the Three Men, One Prostate team we raised over £93,000 and all finished in under 4 hrs 30 minutes.
The following year the team was expanded as the Magnificent Seven to include Tony Armstrong, Rex Willoughby, Dr Dan Wood and LM, the mystery patient who completed the 2001 London Marathon only eight and a half weeks after his own radical prostatectomy, but had to remain anonymous as he had not told his aged mother! Brian Basham (well known entrepreneur) also completed the course and helped raise a record £112,000 for the Prostate Research Campaign UK.
This year we have doubled our team for the 2002 London Marathon and we consider ourselves The Fit Fourteen. The runners include the original three: namely myself, Andrew Etherington and Doug Davidson. Incredibly, we will be joined by my anaesthetist, Dr Peter Amoroso - who many of you will remember, only a few months ago weighed in at a little over 18 and a half stone! He is now a mere 12 stone of pulsating muscle and bone and trains every night in Regents Park.
His personal coach and experienced corunner is Professor Norman Myers, who has previously completed numerous Marathons, but who will be going more slowly this year, since he himself underwent a radical prostatectomy last December. Doug Davidson's friend, Steve Watts has joined the team and already raised over £1000. Dr Dler Besserani, our stalwart urology registrar at the London Clinic is another novice entrant, along with Chris, one of our technicians from the operating theatre.
Another Prostate Research Campaign UK hopeful is currently recovering from prostate surgery at present and it will be touch and go whether he will be fit to compete. They are joined by a number of ladies who are the subject of a short article on the next page.
We are now hard at work fund-raising. We have double the number of runners and we hope to double the funds raised, which will all be used to combat the devastating effects of prostate disease. It will be no easy task, but we are determined to try. Please support us by sending a donation made out to the Prostate Research Campaign UK using the coupon in this newsletter . . . . and think of us sweating it out