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Scots comedian Fred MacAulay diagnosed with prostate cancer

Scots comedian Fred MacAulay diagnosed with prostate cancer

Daily Record20-07-2025
The 68-year-old is encouraging other men to get checked after the disease was detected fol­low­ing a reg­u­lar check-up.
Scots comic Fred MacAulay said he has the 'best chance for a good outcome' after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 68-year-old is encouraging other men to get checked after the disease was detected fol­low­ing a reg­u­lar check-up.

He said: 'It could save lives.'

The stand-up legend added: 'I'm determ­ined not to let a pro­state can­cer dia­gnosis get me down. I've even man­aged to stay away from the inter­net because I'd just scare myself to death.
'Instead, I'm put­ting my trust in my doc­tors, and com­fort­ing myself in the know­ledge that I've been dia­gnosed very early which means I should have the best chance for a good out­come.'

Grandfather Fred revealed yesterday he's been tested for the disease every couple of years due to his dad and brother previously having prostate cancer.
He said: 'I've always been a huge sup­porter of prostate cancer charities, but it wasn't until my own father developed the disease and then my older brother was diagnosed too that I act­ively decided I'd bet­ter do something to explore whether I was also at risk.'
His dad, also called Fred, died at the age of 73 in 2002 after years of bat­tling pro­state can­cer and meso­the­lioma.

Fred said: 'It was the meso­the­lioma which got Dad in the end, he worked on the rail­ways and was exposed to asbes­tos and all kinds of nasty stuff before he became a police­man until he retired.
'But when my brother Duncan, who is 72 now, was dia­gnosed with pro­state can­cer eight years ago, I thought it was about time I took the hint and got checked out.
'I'm lucky enough to be able to get the incred­ibly accur­ate MRI tests which can show things up quickly. When it became clear I'm more at risk because of the pre­val­ence of pro­state can­cer in my fam­ily, I've been get­ting tested every couple of years.'

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Despite having no symptoms, recent tests for the disease came back positive.
'I hope by speak­ing up this will encour­age other men to get checked out too', he said.

'It could save their lives. My brother and my fam­ily and friends are all good about speak­ing up about pro­state can­cer, but I know not every­one does.
'It's always been a scary thing to talk about, but with all the pro­gress in medi­cine the best thing to do is be aware, get tested and catch it quickly as it gives you the best pos­sible chance of beat­ing it.'

Fred will be joining pal and fellow Scot Sir Chris Hoy, who has stage four prostate cancer, at the Tour De 4 in Glas­gow, for the 56-mile bike ride on Septem­ber 7 to raise aware­ness for Pro­state Can­cer UK at the Sir Chris Hoy Velo­drome.
The six-time Olympic gold medal­list has thrown him­self into rais­ing aware­ness of the dis­ease, which accounts for almost a quarter of all can­cers in Scot­tish men.
He said: 'Chris has been such an inspir­a­tional fig­ure in the fight against pro­state can­cer, he is a true hero.'
Sir Chris added: 'It's really import­ant for me to shine a spot­light on what a stage four can­cer dia­gnosis can look like and demon­strate that it is pos­sible to live well and lead a happy life along­side this dev­ast­at­ing dia­gnosis.'
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