Women have done a fantastic job of raising awareness of breast cancer, says Kevin Amphlett.

But he believes that ’prostate cancer has largely been ignored on the island despite the fact that more men are dying from the disease than are women from breast cancer’.

’The good news is that, like breast cancer, if you catch it early you can do something about it,’ he said.

Kevin has a point: World Cancer Research Forum figures show nearly 4,000 deaths in the UK from prostate cancer in 2016.

It’s the third most common form of cancer behind cancer of the lung and colon.

Yet better treatments and earlier diagnosis have meant that prostate cancer survival in the UK has tripled (from 25% to 84%) in the last 40 years.

Kevin, 60, has lived and run businesses in the island since 1998.

In 2017, Chase Templeton, the private medical insurance brokerage company he founded with his wife Julie, was bought by a private equity backed buyer for a figure reputedly the highest price ever paid for an independent private medical insurance broker in the UK.

He has long been known for his generosity towards a number of local charities and he was delighted when Julie Stokes and Carole Male, from the Manx Breast Cancer Support Group(MBCSG), asked him if he would be interested in starting a new charity to raise money for male cancers

The MBCSG committee had realised that some of the latest diagnostic equipment could detect earlier a range of cancers, not just breast cancer, and would benefit a greater number of people in the island.

There was also a general feeling that the impressive work that has gone into raising funds and awareness of breast cancer in the island had made prostate cancer, by contrast, a bit of a ’Cinderella’ cause.

Kevin was keen to be involved.

He said: ’I’ve wanted to put my energy behind a specific charity.

’This, for me, just sounded great, something I could really get my teeth into.’

Kevin has asked two of his equally business-minded friends, Steve McGowan and Alex Holt, to back this new cause and help provide the impetus needed to raise the large amounts of money required to give the island some of the best diagnostic equipment available, whilst also significantly raising the profile of prostate cancer.

He explained their vision and purpose: ’It’s important to recognise the difference between our prostate charity, Mannin Cancers, and that of Prostate Cancer UK.

’There has been fund raising here on the island for the UK based prostate charity, to aid research.

’However these charitable efforts do not provide for the vital services sadly missing here on the island.

’With a population of just 85,000 or so we currently have around 100 men diagnosed each year with prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer UK does not invest any of the funds raised in the direct provision of island-based services.

’We are therefore very much reliant on flying patients into the UK for testing and staging of the disease because of the very rudimentary diagnostic and treatment capabilities currently in place here.

’This can be terribly traumatic, especially for older patients. The need for a stand-alone charity has become very evident as our own healthcare system is extremely stretched and short of funds.’

Kevin and his team have been researching exactly what is needed.

He said: ’Firstly we enlisted the help of urologist Dr Stephen Upsdell, who was delighted to assist with outlining the strategy for fundraising efforts. he has come on board as the charity’s medical advisor.

’He directed the charity’s goals towards purchasing better diagnostic machinery to reduce the need for UK based testing.’

Their initial goal is to purchase transperineal biopsy equipment [which can be targeted to a specific area using MRI scans] and there are plans to raise the money to buy more equipment in the future which will, potentially, transform the diagnosis of a range of cancers.

Although the initial focus of the charity is on diagnostics their long term goal is even more ambitious and is borne out of the simple fact that, as surgeons now specialise much earlier in their careers, the island may no longer be able to support a wide range of specialists.

Kevin says: ’We haven’t got the populace to support a lot of interventionists over here.’

The charity’s vision is to go one better: it would love to raise the money to provide robotic equipment that could carry out endoscopic operations in the island, controlled remotely by surgeons in larger centres in the UK (or, theoretically, anywhere in the world).

Kevin explained: ’This would mean that any form of operation that can be carried out endoscopically can actually be done by a surgeon who’s not located here. That is proper game changing.’

For now, the charity wants to encourage a similar focus and profile for prostate cancer on the Isle of Man as has been achieved for breast cancer.

This starts with something as simple as making men more aware of the symptoms of the disease and the need to look out for them. Prostate cancer is a disease that predominantly affects men over 50.

Younger men have a much lower risk of prostate cancer, although they can still develop it.

Older men, Kevin says, need to be aware of the need for taking a PSA test, a simple blood test which measures the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in your blood.

It can be done at a GP surgery and, whilst not without its faults, is still a vital tool in identifying those who may possibly have the disease.

So his message to all men over 50 is simple: ’When you next visit your GP, ask them to arrange a PSA test, particularly if you are experience increasing need to urinate. Catching the disease early is vitally important.’

â?¢ Mannin Cancers Support Group is an Isle of Man registered charity, number 1273. Find out about future events and fundraising on their Facebook page.