A former prostate cancer sufferer has spoken out about his experience in a bid to encourage more men to get checked out to.
Malcolm Ede's case is an example of just how important it is for the disease to be caught early and he has turned to the Ealing Gazette to get his message across to a wider audience.
The 63-year-old, of Farndale Crescent, Greenford, said: "Whenever I meet a man about 40 years old plus I try and talk to them on a one-to-one basis.
"My condition was caught just by accident and I thought my story would encourage others to get tested."
The most recent figures from the London Health Observatory show there were 197 men diagnosed with the disease from April 2006 to March 2007.
Mr Ede, a father-of-one, said: "I have given blood at Ravenor Clinic for the past 20 odd years for plasma and platelets mainly for leukemia patients and haemophiliacs and the practice nurse at Ravenor Clinic suggested I got tested as a general check-up.
"I had biopsies and was called and asked to come in on the same day the results came back. When they told me it was cancer I really wasn't frightened. I know a lot of people who've had cancer and some have died from it but I saw it as an opportunity to fight it. I thought if I can beat this maybe I can encourage others to fight these things."
Mr Ede opted to have his prostate removed when he was diagnosed four years ago and has been clear every year since. There have been side-effects, he will no longer be able to have children for example, but it is a small price to pay for saving his life.
He said: "It's important because men aren't very good at going to the doctors, they tend to push it out of their minds. A lot of men I've spoken to don't want to know, I don't know whether it's fear or that they think it's not going to affect them.
"Hopefully more will read this and think gosh, I need to get checked and it's important for them to do it every year."
