5:42 pm, July 21, 2020
A used car valuations expert has told the story of his prostate cancer scare – and urged other men in the motor trade to get themselves checked.
Derren Martin, 48, head of valuations for used car specialists Cap HPI, has been encouraged to tell his story after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
He found out he had the disease last year after a chance chat with his doctor where he insisted he wanted a blood test to check for signs of the disease.
Despite his doctor advising against the test, the results came back positive and Martin had an operation to remove his prostate in January of this year and has now made a full recovery.
Bravely telling his story to Car Dealer in the hope others in the motor trade will get themselves checked, Martin said anyone with doubts should get a test.
‘One in eight men will get it at some point of their lifetime,’ he said in a video interview you can watch in full above.
‘I was very lucky it was caught when it was because if it wasn’t I would have had a 10 year life expectancy ahead of me.’
Martin explains that a painful foot led him to make an appointment with his doctor, but that turned out to be totally unconnected to prostate cancer.
The doctor wanted Martin to have a blood test and a gut feeling meant he asked to be tested for prostate cancer at the same time.
He added: ‘When they told me I had to have an appointment with a specialist nurse and a urologist I knew it was bad news.
‘It set the hairs running. I had four days of thinking I was going to die until my appointment. I was really worried.’
However, Martin said after diagnosis the NHS was ‘fantastic’ and the sense of relief when he was told he had cancer and they were going to treat him was huge.
He added: ‘When the nurse said to me “you have prostate cancer and we’re going to fix you”, for me getting told I had cancer was a relief because I had been so worried.’
Martin recuperated for six weeks but has made a full recovery and was given the all clear in April.
He said: ‘I feel fantastic and completely back to normal. Some people can take six months to get back.
‘Early diagnosis was on my side, getting it caught and removed makes me feel so lucky.
‘I never thought I’d get cancer, you never think that sort of thing will happen, but it did and they removed it and I feel lucky.’
Now Martin is cycling every day and enjoying long walks again – not to mention working hard analysing used car prices for Cap HPI.
‘I want to tell people to get themselves checked,’ he added. ‘It’s vital to get checked early, get it sorted and get on with your life.’
Signs of prostate cancer can include differences in the way you urinate, back pain, hip pain, blood in the urine or unexplained weight loss. For more information on prostate cancer, visit www.prostatecanceruk.org or call 0800 074 8383.
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