'I'm running 10km every day in aid of prostate cancer'

32 minutes ago

Adam OxleyYorkshire, Rotherham

Here we go again. A 10km run. Every day in October.

Some may say that's madness, and I'd be one of them. But it means the world, which is why I've signed up again for the Prostate United team.

Let me take you back to 2018 when the thought of running had not even crossed my mind.

That year, my father Glen was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, and Ross Burbeary and Stephen Gilpin - two members of Rotherham United's staff - had set themselves the challenge to run and cycle every day for a month, after Stephen had lost his grandfather to the same illness.

A year later, in 2019, we received the devastating news that my dad's cancer had spread and he died at Ashgate Hospice in Chesterfield.

Meanwhile, the fundraising challenge had started to attract other football clubs from around South Yorkshire.

What happened since has been incredible, both personally and for the challenge.

Prostate United is now the UK's largest community-based football fundraiser, having raised more than £1m in seven years for the charity Prostate Cancer UK.

Participants take part in a daily run, walk or cycle every day in October as part of the annual challenge.

Ross Burbeary, head of performance at Rotherham United, said: "We understand that every man's battle with prostate cancer is different, therefore we're representing this by making sure that everyone can build their own challenge in a way that they feel is enough to test themselves, to keep that level of discipline and to do their own thing.

"A lot of people can get frightened off by doing 10km per day, it's just unachievable. So maybe 10,000 steps a day is more achievable, but still difficult.

"The commitment is every day. Unfortunately, you can't pick and choose when you have or don't have prostate cancer, it's something you are diagnosed with.

"One man dies every 45 minutes from prostate cancer – that's two every football match. It's still one of the biggest cancer killers in men," he added.

I first laced up my boots for Prostate United in 2020, with 5km per day proving a real test.

This will be the fifth year I have taken part, and my second year of running 10km every day.

The challenge is hard, but the running, in some ways, is the easy part.

What's tough is getting up and going again day after day; the logistics of finding over an hour each day around a busy work and home life; and the impact on your close family and finding ways to minimise that.

But for me, the challenge offers a sense of purpose, a chance to channel the unescapable absence of my hero - my dad - into a force for good, alongside an army of people with similar stories.

It allows me to talk about my dad and the amazing 64 years he had, while trying to help other families avoid what we've been through.

The army I mention has more than doubled this year to nearly 3,000 people, representing the majority of professional football clubs, and many others at grass-roots and non-league clubs.

One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes, and the statistics are worse for black men with one in four getting the disease, according to Prostate Cancer UK.

Ross says: "That's the sad reality of why we've got so many people signed up.

"They understand what the challenge is about but they also understand it's very, very common, and they may have been affected by it themselves."

Whisper it quietly, but there are hopes that this year alone could see Prostate United raise a seven-figure sum. Not bad for something that started with two men in Rotherham seven years ago.

I've always played football but honestly, I was never the fittest person while my dad was alive.

I now go running at least twice a week throughout the year, largely inspired by Prostate United, and on every run I wonder what my dad would have made of it all.

In fact I know - he would have been incredibly proud, supportive and my biggest cheerleader, because that's who he was.

He would also want to thank everyone taking part in the challenge for supporting men just like himself.

My dad never got to meet my nearly five-year-old identical twin boys, who were born a year after he died, and that's something I don't want for anyone else.

Let's help relegate prostate cancer for good.

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