Fans join Sunderland legends Gary Bennett and Mick Harford in prostate cancer march

Sunderland Echo

Former SAFC players Gary Bennett, Mick Harford and David Hodgson joined organiser Ron Hedley in a walk to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

Transcript

00:00 (wind blowing)

00:02 - Okay, then Gary, why don't you start a bit about

00:19 your situation, why you were so keen to get involved

00:21 in this march today.

00:22 - Yeah, my situation was that I didn't have any symptoms.

00:26 You know, we're talking about prostate cancer,

00:28 something which obviously was new to me.

00:31 It was only because I was getting up,

00:34 going to the toilet, which is a man's thing,

00:36 and my wife was encouraging me,

00:39 because I was 60, my ethnicity as well,

00:43 being black Afro-Caribbean, to go and get a test.

00:47 I went along to the doctors.

00:48 They didn't really want to give me a PSA.

00:50 They was asking me why.

00:52 I ended up having a blood test,

00:53 and they obviously come back,

00:55 and I was diagnosed with having prostate cancer.

00:58 And it was lucky for me, because we caught it early doors,

01:01 and I think that's the most important thing,

01:04 trying to raise the awareness.

01:05 You know, don't think, especially that you've got

01:09 to have the symptoms to be tested, you don't.

01:12 And the earlier you catch it,

01:14 the more opportunity you've got in regards of curing it.

01:17 - Okay, I make a noise, you're a Sunderland lad,

01:19 so obviously you've travelled up there to be involved,

01:20 so why were you so keen to come up today?

01:22 - Well, the reason for my involvement in today

01:26 is that we, myself, Ron and Gary,

01:29 decided to have a walk and raise awareness.

01:33 And the people of Sunderland, the people of the North East,

01:36 and countrywide, have been really, really supportive

01:40 of my problem and situation.

01:42 And we just want to give something back.

01:45 We want to try and help as many people as we can

01:46 in the North East.

01:47 And we're here to raise money,

01:50 but the money is not the most important thing.

01:52 The most important thing is to raise awareness

01:54 and get the word out there that the guys

01:57 go and get themselves checked.

01:58 You don't have to have symptoms to go and get checked.

02:01 Get to a certain age and go and get checked out.

02:04 And if you don't want to get checked out,

02:06 we know how proud the men of the North East are.

02:09 There is a risk checker on the prostatecancer.co.uk website,

02:14 so you can do that and see exactly where you are.

02:19 So, just want to say thanks to all the people

02:21 of the North East for the support they've given,

02:23 myself and Gary, and anyone else suffering

02:25 from prostate cancer.

02:27 Dave, yourself, why are you here today?

02:28 - To be honest here, the lads have just about

02:30 echoed everything in terms of awareness

02:33 for out there, for whether it be sports people

02:35 or Sunderland fans, or whatever fan of football

02:38 you're involved in.

02:40 I'm basically supporting that.

02:41 He's obviously a very close friend of mine,

02:43 and I'm here for him today to walk the five miles

02:46 and have a good chat about all the pastimes,

02:49 but obviously, most importantly,

02:51 is to bring awareness.

02:52 Wear the t-shirt on the walk,

02:53 make sure everyone sees it,

02:55 and hopefully raise sufficient funds

02:57 to put into the coffers for the charity.

03:00 - Jeff Stelling walk from Durham County Cricket Club

03:05 to the Stadium of Light, to the ground

03:07 on the other side of the river.

03:09 One or two will appreciate that.

03:12 A year later, I discovered I've got prostate cancer.

03:16 - Okay then, why don't we just start by asking

03:17 what today's event's all about then?

03:19 - Well, in 2017, I did a Jeff Stelling March for Men

03:24 from Durham Cricket Club to St. James' Park

03:28 via the Stadium of Light.

03:30 Discovered that because I had a brother

03:32 with prostate cancer, I was more likely to get it.

03:35 A year later, I discovered I'd got prostate cancer

03:38 and bone cancer, and felt I had to do something for men.

03:43 I play over-60s and over-70s cricket,

03:46 county cricket across the country,

03:49 and we had an audience to hit

03:52 to get awareness of prostate cancer.

03:54 One in eight men will get prostate cancer,

03:57 one in four black men, and in the northeast of England,

04:01 it's probably one in six, 'cause apparently,

04:03 northeast men don't go to the doctors.

04:06 And we're here, especially today,

04:08 with Durham Northumberland over-60s cricketers,

04:12 with Sunderland and Newcastle football people,

04:15 Mick Harford, Gary Bennett have joined us

04:18 to get this message out there that you need to get tested.

04:22 The thing about prostate cancer is

04:24 there aren't always symptoms.

04:26 There is a PSA test that you need to get and see.

04:30 We found out last night a lot of men won't go

04:33 for a PSA test 'cause they think it,

04:35 sorry to be crude, but the finger up the bum test,

04:39 the PSA test is a blood test.

04:41 The finger up the bum test comes

04:43 if they find problems with the blood test.

04:47 Most people will survive prostate cancer

04:50 if they get tested soon enough.

04:52 I have a friend who ignored it.

04:54 He's not gonna see Christmas, he's 67.

04:56 He knew he was unwell, for his own reasons,

05:01 chose to ignore it, and we won't see him again,

05:05 and he won't see Christmas.

05:08 So this is what today's all about,

05:10 and it's been the most fantastic turnout.

05:12 Michael at the museum, the Fans Museum,

05:15 has taken it on board, got it out on social media,

05:19 and I'm absolutely stunned to see the amount of people here.

05:24 This plan is that I came up with the idea

05:28 of doing a walk in every county

05:30 that plays over-60s county cricket.

05:33 That's 32 counties plus Wales.

05:35 This is the 18th walk we've done.

05:38 The plan is to end on my 75th birthday in September,

05:43 and the last walk, we've been told,

05:44 we can do at Lord's Cricket Ground,

05:47 and we're hoping the rest of the counties will come on.

05:51 We did some fundraising before we started this thing.

05:54 Last week, this topped 30,000.

05:58 What we did before, we're now over 50,000,

06:01 but more importantly than anything,

06:03 it's getting awareness out to people.

06:04 They need to be tested.

06:06 (wind blowing)

06:09 (wind blowing)

06:12 (wind blowing)

06:15 (wind blowing)

06:18 (wind blowing)

06:21 (wind blowing)

06:24 (wind blowing)

06:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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