“I would have probably just left it,” the retired motor mechanic and gardener from Petrockstow, Torridge, confessed.
Brian noticed minor changes to his urinary habits and had developed a backache.
Once Carol convinced him to see the doctor in September 2020, Brian was sent for an urgent scan due to a family history of cancer.
“I was very lucky with my wife, Carol, who pushed and pushed,” Brian said.
Brian had a cancerous tumour in his prostate, a walnut-sized gland that forms part of the male reproductive system.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer, Brian was first put under active surveillance.
However, once the tumour started to grow in size, NHS treatment was offered – both radiotherapy and a radical prostatectomy (surgery).
Together, after talking to the medical experts, Brian and Carol decided to go ahead with proton therapy, a type of radiotherapy.
While there are two proton therapy centres in England – one in Manchester and one in London – neither of them treat prostate cancer.
Thus, Brian got in contact with Proton Therapy UK, which treats UK patients privately at a facility in Prague, Czech Republic.
The couple stayed in the city for just over three weeks; during that time, Brian had five rounds of treatment.
Brian said: “I’m grateful that I can spend time with my family, including my grandchildren.
“If I didn’t get things sorted then these opportunities might not be here.
“I play football and tennis with my grandchildren all the time and I’m fortunate I can enjoy their company.”
Brian added: “I live for every day and have started to learn the guitar, all the things I have wanted to do but have put off.
“We now try to grab every opportunity we’ve got, in a way we probably wouldn’t have done before.”
Brian also raised awareness about prostate cancer in the village he lives in.
“What I tell my friends and people around the village is, go and get yourself checked and then take it from there.”