Former British Prime Minister David Cameron was diagnosed with prostate cancer after being urged by his wife to go for tests, the former leader revealed in an interview with The Sunday Times on Sunday.
The former UK leader went for a screening after he and his wife listened to Nick Jones, the founder of the Soho House empire, share the details of his own cancer diagnosis in 2022.
Samantha Cameron told him, “You’re going for a health check-up with your GP, you should ask about this,” Cameron recalled. “And so I did.”
Listening to his wife, Cameron had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which found high levels of a protein associated with the mutation.
Cameron shared that he had “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 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.’”
Using his personal experience and platform to raise awareness, Cameron urged men to screen for the cancer.
“I’ve got a platform. This is something we’ve really got to think about, talk about, and if necessary, act on,” he told the Times. “I want to, as it were, come out. I want to add my name to the long list of people calling for a targeted screening program.”
“I don’t particularly like discussing my personal intimate health issues, but I feel I ought to,” he admitted. “Let’s be honest. Men are not very good at talking about their health. We tend to put things off. We’re embarrassed to talk about something like the prostate, because it’s so intricately connected with sexual health and everything else. I sort of thought, well, this has happened to you, and you should lend your voice to it.
“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 wrong. It gave me the chance to deal with it.”
Prostate cancer diagnoses in Israel
Prostate cancer is the third most prevalent cancer in Israel and the most prevalent cancer among men in Israel, according to the Israel Cancer Association.
While common, the cancer is usually treatable, and the survival rate is 97%.
Prof. Lital Keinan-Boker, Director of the Israel Center for Disease Control at the Health Ministry and chairman of the Israel Cancer Association Committee on Prevention & Early Detection said: "Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in men in Israel, number one among Jews (17.0% of all new incidence), and third most prevalent in Arab men after lung cancer and colorectal cancer (9.1% of all new incidence). Prostate cancer is the fourth most prevalent cancer mortality cause among men in Israel (7.4%) after lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
“Among Jewish men alone, prostate cancer was the fourth most prevalent cancer mortality cause (7.7%) after lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Among Arab men too, prostate cancer was the fourth most prevalent cancer mortality cause (5.6% of all cancer mortality) after lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and urine bladder cancer."