A man who had to have a portion of his knob removed has opened up about the experience and has called for more awareness for a rare from of cancer effecting blokes
A man has revealed his life-and-death struggle with an extremely rare form of cancer that required him to have a third of his penis surgically removed.
Alastair Munro, 49, is to feature on BBC2’s Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life tonight, May 6, to discuss his fight against penile cancer. The man had spotted a small growth on the tip of his penis which was enlarging and visited his GP approximately six weeks after it appeared.
Examinations confirmed he had cancer and he subsequently underwent a seven-hour procedure at the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, to extract the tumour along with several lymph nodes from his groin. Medical professionals performed a follow-up operation six weeks afterwards to eliminate more of the cancer.
They were also successful in reconstructing his penis using tissue from his thigh. Alastair, who resides in Inverness, Scotland, said: “I want to get the message across that if anyone notices there is something wrong in the penis or testicle area, like a spot or a lump, or they have problems urinating, they should never be embarrassed and should go to the GP straight away.
“I think cancer is a horrible disease, often with no symptoms and so difficult to detect but I am only alive today due to my brilliant surgeon and the NHS – and the fact that I managed to spot something was wrong before it was too late. Penile cancer is incredibly rare and so little is generally known about it that I decided to take part in the BBC Scotland series which follows the whole story.”
Alastair, a civil engineer, received the all-clear in February and is scheduled for additional reconstructive surgery later this year.
He has received unwavering support from his closest mate Richard Selvester, who features alongside him on the BBC programme, with the duo fundraising for male cancer charity Orchid.
Penile cancer is exceptionally uncommon, striking merely 700 blokes across Britain annually. Alastair said: “If one person watches the programme, and realises that there is something wrong or not quite right with them in the ‘downstairs’ area, and then decides to go to his GP then Richard and I will have achieved our target.
“They filmed the whole procedure and all the rest of it. And then after the recovery period they came back to the golf club and filmed us again. Earlier this year they showed us the whole episode. It’s quite graphic.”
Richard said: “We’re lifelong friends and it’s been amazing seeing him contend with so many traumas at once,” reports the Mirror.
He added: “As he was preparing for the first operation back in 2024, his mother died. We had just met with the BBC at Kingussie Golf Club to talk about how scary it all was, with all our cards on the table, nothing being held back when his mother died of cancer.
“Alastair has had a terrible time (but) nothing deterred him, though, in his battle with the disease and in the knowledge that it would ultimately be shared with millions of TV viewers. He is a remarkable guy and it’s wonderful to see him approaching his 50th birthday now as he gets the story across to the public, just as he wanted.
“He speaks so well in the programme and desperately wants to raise awareness because penile cancer is such a rare form and so few people know what’s involved.”
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