Sports presenter Steve Rider has encouraged other men to "recognise your vulnerability" as he revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The 73-year-old broadcaster, who previously hosted BBC's Grandstand and Sportsnight, will be undergoing surgery this weekend after receiving his diagnosis last month.
Rider revealed he learned of his diagnosis the day after he took part in fellow presenter Jeff Stelling's latest charity event in honour of his former colleague Bill Turnbull, who died from prostate cancer in 2022.
Rider told the PA news agency that he was tested after one of his friends was diagnosed with the cancer following a routine medical check.
"He had a scan which [sic] showed some alarming things going on with the prostate and within a month he had the full operation and that woke everybody up, because he had no symptoms and very fit guy, and roughly our age," he said.
Rider admitted that after he was first tested he planned to do "absolutely nothing", as his readings were "not that high", but his wife urged him to undergo further examinations.
On 17 September, he went from Wembley Stadium in London to the home of Wycombe Wanderers FC in High Wycombe alongside more than 350 others as part of Stelling's 26.2-mile charity walk - and the day after he received his biopsy result.
He said: "I thought the worst that can happen is that I'm going to be monitored for the next six months or so, and we got the results of the biopsy the next day and they said 'No, you come in as soon as you can, we’re going to operate'."
Rider finished filming the British Touring Car Championship for ITV on Sunday and will go in for surgery later this week.
He said his diagnosis was aided by his friends having open conversations and his wife encouraging him to have further tests, saying: "We do tend to treat these things a little bit like getting your eyes tested or ears done, you can put it off and maybe think, 'Well, I'll wait till the symptoms come'.
"Symptoms don't come and when they do it is probably too late."
He added: "The message is to recognise your vulnerability, especially with age and family history and so on. And if you do feel that you fall into those categories, then get yourself checked."
Rider also praised his former colleague Turnbull for creating greater awareness of prostate cancer by speaking out about the disease.
The late BBC Breakfast host revealed his diagnosis in March 2018 and detailed his treatment in a Channel 4 documentary called Staying Alive.
Rider said: "The great thing about Bill was that he wanted to turn his misfortune into an information campaign which [sic] would save hundreds of others, and I'm sure that probably hundreds and thousands of men have stepped back from a really serious cancer because of the attention that Bill Turnbull brought to early diagnosis and testing.
"And apart from that, he was a lovely, lovely guy."
He also commended Stelling for carrying on Turnbull's legacy with the charity walks and said it was a "privilege to be able to join them".
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Source: Press Association
