A SERIES of prostate cancer screening sessions will culminate with a special event at Asda in memory of a Winsford man who died of the disease last year.

The on-the-spot PSA testing session on May 18, organised by Gary Steele’s Leighton Prostate Cancer Support Group, is sponsored by the Mark Smith memorial fund.

When Mark died aged 48 in July 2013, his parents set up the fund to spread awareness of the disease.

Their work supports Gary’s calls for wider testing of prostate cancer in men, particularly among younger people who are currently overlooked by GP guidelines.

Gary said: “It is important to try and get through to men and destroy the myth that prostate cancer is an ‘old-man's disease’.

“I have been involved for the past 15 years as a sufferer and know this is not the case.”

“Over the past three years I have been instrumental in arranging these off-the-cuff tests and have tested over 4,000 men, finding some 160 cancers in men who didn't know, wouldn't have gone to their GP's, and some who did and got refused to be tested because they didn't have symptoms.”

Gary’s on the spot tests are free and take only a few minutes. In the majority of cases, men can get an all-clear there and then.

Further tests will take place this Saturday at Portal Golf Club, Tarporley between 9am-1pm, Wednesday, April 23 at Kingsley Community Centre between 7-9pm, and Saturday, May 3 at Middlewich Masonic Hall, Kinderton Street between 10am-1pm.

For the Asda test, turn up on the day. To book a place on another test day, call Gary on 01606 553097.