Former Newmarket Town manager Martin Boatright is striding out to raise awareness of prostate cancer
A former manager of Newmarket Town will be setting out on a 31-mile walk today as part of his mission to raise awareness of prostate cancer and to urge all men over 50 to get themselves checked out for the disease.
Martin Boatright was 56 when he was diagnosed in May 2018 with an aggressive tumour after going to his GP for an unrelated matter.
Nearly three years later, after an initial 40 sessions of radiotherapy followed by a three-monthly injection into his stomach and blood tests every month, Martin is nearing the end of his treatment but continues to call for routine screening of men in the same way woman are called in for breast cancer x-rays.
“I know we’ve all been through a year of Covid and all the lockdowns and that has taken most of our attention, but cancer doesn’t care about Covid and it doesn’t stop,” said Martin, who lives with his wife Laura in Newmarket Road, Fordham.
“In the last 12 months I have continued to tell as many men as possible to get themselves tested and during that time I have had an elderly uncle, a cousin, a football friend and an acquaintance who went for a test and were diagnosed with the early stages of prostate cancer.
“They are all under various types of treatment but all had caught it early and, so far, their treatment has been successful.
“A few others out of the hundreds of men that I have spoken to have told me they have been checked and are okay but the data says that in the UK one in eight white men and one in four black men will have prostate cancer in their lifetime.
“In these days when it’s good for men to talk, my message is that you do not want to be told you have an aggressive tumour.
“What follows are scans, appointments, minor surgery, treatments of radiotherapy and three years of ongoing treatment.”
Just over a year ago, Martin and Laura took part in a major national fund-raising event for research into prostate cancer. The Jeff Stelling March for Men saw 300 people walk between five football grounds in London led by the popular Sky Sports presenter and a number of ex-football league players. The walk raised £4,000 with the total for the whole event exceeding £1 million.
Saturday’s walk is again linked to March for Men but this time it will be nearer to home.
“I thought about what I could do to push myself and the answer was an Ultrathon, so at about 7.30am on Saturday Laura and I will set off from Fordham across byways, footpaths, lanes and roads to Lanwade, Exning, Newmarket, along Devil’s Dyke to Stetchworth, Wood Ditton, Cheveley, Ashley, Moulton, Gazeley, Kentford, Kennet, a bit of cross country to Snailwell and home again.
Martin, now semi-retired from his building business, is aiming to complete the walk in under 10 hours, weather permitting.
“If you see us, give me a wave or a cheer or better still donate a couple of quid to my just giving page,” said Martin. Go to marchthemonth.prostatecanceruk.org/fundraising/martins-march-for-men
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