IF you are a man over 50, make an appointment with your doctor to get a blood test, urges a man with prostate cancer.

David Hawkins, 57, said he had regular blood tests because his father died of prostate cancer and his mother of breast cancer.

He said: "Any man over 50 should get tested by his GP. If I hadn't had the tests, I wouldn't have know I had prostate cancer for at least another five or ten years.

"It would have been far more difficult to treat the cancer if that had been the case."

He added that free testing should be available on the NHS like breast cancer check-ups are for women.

Mr Hawkins' daughter Joanna, of Warner Road, Walthamstow, ran in this year's Hydro Active Women's Challenge 5km run in Hyde Park on Sunday with 20,000 others, completing the course in 34mins to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Charity.

She wore a t-shirt saying: "In memory of grandpa and in celebration of dad."

She said: "When I heard my father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer I felt numb. It was a double whammy because my grandfather also died of it."

Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that in 2004, one in 11 men was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and the condition is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men in Britain.

Mr Hawkins, of Brook Meadow Close, Woodford Green, said he found the charity's website helpful because it gave him the information he needed to make informed decisions about the sort of treatment he needed.

The charity also runs a helpline where trained nurses answer questions and ease concerns from men with the condition or their families.

Suresh Rambaran, the Prostate Cancer Charity's support and information specialist, said: "The helpline receives 14,000 calls per year.

I provide callers with information packs worth £10 that tell people what treatment is available, the advantages and disadvantages of treatment and questions for their doctors."

It also provides emotional support for men and their families.

A charity spokesperson said that African Caribbean men are three times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than white men.

l To use the Prostate Cancer Charity's confidential helpline call 0800 074 8383, between Monday and Friday from 10am to 4pm, or on Wednesdays from 7pm to 9pm.

Also visit the website at www.prostate-cancer.org.uk.