Henry’s Story

I was born in the lodge at Stroquhan on the 7 th  of January 1957 and have a brother and two sisters. My father was the gardener at Stroquhan, Milton, Dunscore and I myself served my time as a joiner when I left school, starting off with A.B. Ireland and then with Robison & Davidson, who were two very different companies.

I then got a job delivering day-old chicks for Robert Thompson Chicks Ltd at Tynron, travelling as far as Banff, the Black Isle, Birmingham and Norfolk. Janet and I were married in 1981 and moved into a cottage in Tynron village where we stayed for 12 years, during which time we had our two sons, Calum and Alastair.

Sadly, the hatchery went into liquidation so I sat and passed my HGV driving test, then got a job in Dumfries with George Wilson, builders merchants and bought a house there too, in 1992.
I finished my working life, delivering heating oil for Carrs Billington until 2023. I was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019 and had an operation to remove the tumour and six weeks of radiotherapy in Edinburgh, being given the ‘all clear’ for this in 2023, so imagine my shock when in 2024, after a routine blood test for a virus, I was told my PSA level was 15, as I had had no Prostate Cancer symptoms, at all.

That then led to an MRI scan in Dumfries and a bone scan in Carlisle, which I was relieved to hear, came back clear. I had biopsies carried out in Dumfries which was fine and not painful, then two consultations at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital, after which I went back to the same hospital to have the gold seeds implanted into my Prostate so that the radioactive beams could be accurately aimed at my tumour, which I have to say, also involved very little discomfort.

By the time I went up for my fourth week radiotherapy session, my PSA was 21. Subsequently, my first blood test, three months after treatment was 0.1 otherwise described as ‘undetectable’ which was a great relief and fingers crossed, the reading will stay at 0.1.

Prostate Buddies have been a great support to me, as these guys have all been through the same thing and can give great support and good advice.