Cancer survivor takes on John O'Groats to Land's End challenge

The Coatbridge man, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2012, is getting on his bike to cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End to raise money for a charity which helps others with the same condition.

He will be joining 700 other cyclists who are taking on the nine day tour for Prostate Cancer UK.

He said: "Everybody who's doing this is doing it for different reasons.

"I work in the health and fitness industry, I have done for 15 years. But this is the first time I've actually practised what I preach and I feel absolutely amazing.

"I’m in my mid 50s and I’ve never done anything like this. People in work convinced me to go for it and since I’ve paid my money there’s no turning back.

"We've had a lot of bad weather for cycling in so on days where I couldn't get out on the road I was in the garage on a turbo trainer, which is like a spin bike.

"My wife had been watching Homeland - the Sky Plus always had to be set for it – so I thought I’d watch it. I got it up on the iPad, stuck in the earphones and watched the whole two seasons cycling in the garage.

"But being out on the road is a whole different kettle of fish."

Wille discovered he had cancer after a chance visit to his doctor. The 55-year-old went to his GP suffering from sore ears. But tests to find out what was wrong showed he also had cancer.

It came as a shock to the Grandfather who didn’t have any idea there was something wrong with him.

He said: "I had gone to the doctor with sore ears and tests showed there was something else wrong with me.

"But there was nothing wrong with me that I could see - no symptoms or anything. I didn’t have a clue.

"Everyone around me was a lot more worried than I was. My wife was crying when we went outside. She just burst into tears."

Despite the shock and severity of his diagnosis, the health and fitness manager was determined not to let it get to him.

Just five weeks after an operation to have his prostate removed in July, Willie was back working part-time at his gym in Anniesland.

He said: "When the doctor told me I had cancer, my attitude was 'well what are you going to do about it?'.

"I was really confident the doctors and the NHS would do what they had to do.

"It was difficult having a catheter, being bagged up and covered in scars and staples. It was very difficult at first.

"I had to make plans for the possible future, for insurance purposes and things.

"But I was always really confident that I would get through it, and that pushed my progress.

"I was back at work part-time five weeks after my operation. I did two days on then three days off then I was back full-time after a few weeks."

He added: "I wouldn’t recommend that, though."

In January, Willie was given the all clear.

So when an advert for Ride Across Britain came through his letterbox he thought he’d give himself the challenge.

The 963 mile challenge takes place on June 8. You can learn more about detecting cancer early here.