Joke on lads’ trip led to lifesaving cancer diagnoses for pair of brothers
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Two brothers who got tested for cancer on a whim have had the same surgery weeks apart after receiving the same diagnosis. Keith Powell and his younger brother Alan both took a test for prostate cancer after being inspired by a chance remark about how many times ‘men of a certain age’ go to the toilet every night.
![[Keith Powell with brother Alan and medical staff. Photo released January 19 2025.Two brothers received life-saving prostate cancer treatment within months of each other after a joke on a lad's holiday prompted them to take a test. Keith Powell, 68, underwent a radical prostatectomy just months after his younger brother, Alan, 66, had the same operation. The brothers even underwent their surgeries at the same hospital in Surrey with the same surgeon - and say they feel lucky to have caught the cancer before it spread. Retired gas and heating engineer Alan decided to get tested after a chance remark about the number of times 'men of a certain age' go to the toilet on a lad's holiday made him think.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_236517209-d959.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Neither of them had any inkling they had cancer – which is fairly common for people with prostate cancer, as it usually takes years to develop. Alan received his diagnosis after taking a PSA test, and it wasn’t long until Keith followed suit and took the test himself, receiving the same results.
Alan, a 66-year-old dad of two, explained what prompted him to take the test in the first place: ‘I was sharing a cabin on an overnight ferry with a group of friends and we ended up laughing about the amount of times men of a certain age get up in the night.
‘The next time I was at my GP I asked for a PSA test. ‘I had no symptoms at all and considered myself to be a reasonably active man, so what happened next was a bit of a shock.’. Following the PSA test, Alan, who will become a grandfather later this year, had an MRI scan and biopsy before receiving the cancer diagnosis.
He went for surgery last October at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, where pioneering robotic technology was used to remove his prostate. The news of Alan’s diagnosis prompted 68-year-old big brother Keith to take the same test himself. He’d previously been treated for skin cancer, and the PSA test returned a similar diagnosis to Alan’s.
