Terry Emerson, 66, was diagnosed with prostate cancer three and a half years ago, just six months after one of the happiest days of his life, his wedding to Christine.

“I don’t want to die but it’s going to kill me, there’s no two ways about it,” said Mr Emerson this week. “I’m begging people, they don’t want to end up in my situation.”

A prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is a simple blood check which identifies signs of cancer. A normal PSA reading is around six, but Mr Emerson’s is now 120.

“Wives and daughters need to drag men down to the doctor and ask for one,” said Mr Emerson, of Harland Court, Haefield. They have the power to save their lives and nagging never killed anybody.”

The gas engineer has completed two rounds of radiotherapy which rid him of the cancer in his spine, pelvis and hips, but the prostate remains diseased. He is about to start chemotherapy.

“I’ve been in excruciating pain with the radiotherapy,” he said.

“I’m not looking forward to chemotherapy and its side effects.”

Up until January, Mr Emerson was receiving the life-extending drug abiraterone, but it has now stopped being effective.

He is keen to try a new life-extending drug, enzalutamide, but in a draft decision by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) it has been restricted for use, and will not be available to men who have previously received abiraterone.

“This has left many men like Mr Emerson devastated as enzalutamide could be their last hope,” said a spokesman from research charity Prostate Cancer UK.

“We are campaigning hard to encourage NICE to reverse their draft decision.”

Mr and Mrs Emerson were due to meet with an oncologist yesterday (Tuesday) to see if he can pay for enzalutamide himself.

The Chorleywood Friends of Prostate Sufferers group has offered to fund the first month of enzalutamide, which costs around £3,000, if possible. But Mr Emerson is under no illusions about his fate.

“I’ve got no chance but I want to help others,” he said. "That’s what my life is about now, that’s all I can do.”

Last year he put posters around the village to raise awareness.

“Many men in Harefield did go to their doctor as a result of the campaign,” he said. “But I can’t physically get out there and do it again, because I use a wheelchair and Zimmer frame. So I just want people to know how dangerous it is but if it’s caught in the early stages it can be got shot of.”

Fighting prostate cancer is currently the subject of a national TV advertising campaign fronted by comedian Bill Bailey.

Warning on cancer signs

Please let my cancer posters stay up