The ex-PM has thrown his weight behind a fresh push to offer prostate cancer screening to men most at risk
The former Prime Minister, who is now cancer free, said that he discovered the disease after his wife Samantha urged him to undergo tests in 2024.
The ex-Tory leader, 59, explained how he was listening to Soho House founder Nick Jones talking about his own 2022 diagnosis on the radio late last year.
This prompted Samantha to encourage him to ask his GP for a similar test, the Times reported.
Lord Cameron said he then went and had a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, which looks for proteins associated with prostate cancer, that came out worryingly high.
He told the Times: “You always hope for the best. You have an MRI scan with a few black marks on it. You think, ‘Ah, that’s probably OK.’
“But when the biopsy comes back, and it says you have got prostate cancer? You always dread hearing those words.
“And then literally as they’re coming out of the doctor’s mouth you’re thinking, ‘Oh, no, he’s going to say it. He’s going to say it. Oh God, he said it.’”
The ex-PM, who also had a brief stint as Foreign Secretary under Rishi Sunak, said he opted for a “focal” therapy as part of his treatment.
It was less invasive and gruelling than a prostatectomy or radiotherapy, Lord Cameron said.
The successful treatment saw him give another MRI scan before he was given the all clear.
The peer has now thrown his weight behind a fresh push to offer prostate cancer screening to men most at risk – and he says the science is now firmly on their side.
Cameron said he believes new tech has transformed the maths on early testing, making a national programme not just worthwhile but urgent.
And he’s convinced that with breakthroughs coming thick and fast, it may not be long before routine screening could be rolled out to all older men.
The Tory grandee said it was a move that he believes could save countless lives among the 12,000 Brits who die each year from the UK’s deadliest male cancer.
He added: “I would feel bad if I didn’t come forward and say that I’ve had this experience. I had a scan.
“It helped me discover something that was wrong. It gave me the chance to deal with it.”
The call for national screening has already been backed by Olympic cycling great Sir Chris, who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in September 2023.
Prostate Cancer UK told The Sun: “We’re glad to hear that David Cameron found his prostate cancer at an early stage and had successful treatment.
“We thank him for sharing his story and in doing so raising vital awareness of this disease, which is completely curable if found early.”
They added: “We lose 12,000 dads, brothers, sons and friends to this disease every year.
“We’ve reached a tipping point in the UK, with too many men dying from a curable disease and worse outcomes for men at higher risk like Black men and men from working class communities.
“Prostate cancer is the last major cancer without a screening programme, and we need change now.”
During his time in No 10, Lord Cameron was a vocal supporter of prostate cancer awareness, expressing frustration about his inability to grow a moustache for Movember.
His administration established the Cancer Drugs Fund to provide access to drugs not routinely available on the NHS.
One in eight men will get prostate cancer
The risk of developing prostate cancer depends on many factors, here are some of the facts about the disease and how many men it affects.
- One in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime
- It is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, and the most common in men
- There are 63,000 new cases every year in the UK, and 1.5million globally
- Around 12,000 people lose their lives to prostate cancer annually in the UK and almost 400,000 around the world
- Prostate cancer accounts for 28 per cent of all new cancer cases in men in the UK, and 14 per cent of all new cancer cases in men and women combined
- Prostate cancer survival has tripled in the last 50 years in the UK
- More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of patients survive for 10 or more years
- About 510,000 men are living with and after prostate cancer in the UK
- It is most common in men aged 75 to 79
- Since the early 1990s, cases have increased by 53 per cent in the UK
- Mortality rates are up 16 per cent since the early 1970s in the UK
- Incidence rates are projected to rise by 15 per cent in the UK between 2023 to 2025 and 2038 to 2040
- Mortality rates are expected to fall five per cent in the UK over the same years
BRCA genes and risk of prostate cancer
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are two genes that everyone has. They keep healthy cells growing normally and prevent the growth of cancer cells.
In a small number of people, these genes change and don’t work properly – this is called a gene variant. Your body can create these gene variants over time, or they can be inherited.
Men with a BRCA2 gene variant have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer during their lifetime.
If you have a BRCA1 variant, your lifetime risk of developing prostate cancer may only increase slightly.
Some research suggests that having a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene variant may also increase your risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer at a younger age or having aggressive prostate cancer.
In the general population, around 1 in 300 to 400 people have a BRCA gene variant.
But people from an Ashkenazi Jewish background have a higher risk – around 1 in 40 people may carry a BRCA gene variant.
