Adelaide Nine News weekend presenter Will McDonald reveals he has prostate cancer
It’s the shock news no one wants to hear. When Will McDonald went back to the gym, he felt a twinge in his hip – so he followed it up. It was lucky he did.
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“The strange thing is I feel as fit and strong as I ever have but apparently I have a pretty serious disease,” Nine News presenter Will McDonald says.
That pretty serious disease is prostate cancer, which affects one in seven men by the age of 75 in Australia each year. As a fit 42-year-old who doesn’t drink or smoke, whose only vices are his motorbike and solo skydiving – it certainly came as a shock.
McDonald first noticed something wrong in June. It was the day gyms reopened after COVID restrictions were loosened. Keen to get back to exercise, he jumped straight back into his usual routine. While doing squats he felt a seemingly innocuous, but weird, pain in his left hip.
“I know when I’ve done too much at the gym and hurt myself – this didn’t feel normal and I couldn’t figure out how I injured it,” he says. “It was just a slight sharp pain in the hip joint, not excruciating – it was just annoying.”
When that twinge didn’t ease after a few weeks, McDonald visited his physio, and then his GP, seeking answers.
An MRI eventually revealing he had lesions on that sore hip joint. Blood tests showed a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) of 38. And a biopsy confirmed he had quite an aggressive prostate cancer which had spread to his hip.
He’s pragmatic and positive.
“I think I have become better over the years at just accepting whatever unfolds in front of you,” McDonald says. “I live two streets from the clinic, I walked home and by the time I got home I’d been through the conversation of ‘why me?’ and pretty quickly got to the concept ‘why not me?’. I’m not alone – lots and lots and lots and lots of people get diagnosed with cancer every day sadly.”
It’s rare for a man of his age to have this particular cancer so his biopsy has been sent to the US to analyse for any potential genetic mutation. And while his 75-year-old dad was diagnosed with the same disease in December and has since recovered, there’s no other family history.
McDonald has just started chemotherapy, and will have hormone treatment to suppress the prostate cancer, and then some targeted radiotherapy. And an operation to strengthen his weakened hip. All went well with his first session of chemo on Wednesday, and he was back in the newsroom primed for the 5pm bulletin.
“Everyone reacts differently – they say ‘you might lose your hair, you might not. You might lose weight, you might not. You might be really tired, you might not’,” McDonald shares. “I just said ‘nah, I’m not going to do any of those things’.”
McDonald learnt quickly he doesn’t represent your typical prostate cancer patient – he’s much younger. So the statistics don’t really apply – he’s stopped himself from Googling. His prognosis is good.
“I’ve got to say you quickly realise there’s a big black dark hole that sits just beside you when you get a serious diagnosis like this,” he says. “But I’ve made the choice from day one that I’m not going to go anywhere near the dark hole. I feel great. I feel strong. I feel positive. The doctors are all positive and they are all doing everything they possibly can. I don’t have any expectations apart from blitzing the cancer, putting it into remission and getting back to normal life.”
McDonald’s kept on presenting the daily 5pm and weekend bulletins and plans to continue throughout his treatment, with the full support of his work family at Nine.
“It’s a wonderful distraction for the most part, especially that hour a day when I’m on the telly reading the news,” he says. “That’s the only thing I think about. So the rest of the world is shut-out completely. Life goes on, life’s still normal and I can still do my job – even at the same time as having to deal with other unpleasant stuff.”
McDonald hopes by sharing his story more men will be proactive about their health and not ignore or simply dismiss aches and pains.
“The earlier you find something, the much easier it is to treat,” he says. “I was not in the risk group, but the positive step was I followed up that it was hurting and it didn’t make sense. We’ve caught it at the point where it is very treatable and hasn’t spread to the rest of my body.
“The message is whether it’s prostate cancer or whether it’s just a weirdly sore joint or whatever just go and have a regular check-up especially as you get older and especially if you have a family history.”
There’s not a trace of “woe is me” in McDonald. He truly feels he’s in a tremendous position. He’s wrapped in love and support from his girlfriend Samantha Kelly, his immediate family (although from afar on the Gold Coast) and his wonderful friends. He’s got his “therapy” dog Rupert, a great job and a company who supports him. And he lives in a great city which has all of the medical care he needs.
“I mean even with all of the things going wrong, there’s a lot going right.”