Mark Godfrey creates community support during prostate cancer battle

Mark Godfrey never would’ve known he had cancer if he didn’t mention this strange symptom in passing to his GP at the end of his consult, now he lives life in three month blocks.

Mark Godfrey may have never known he had prostate cancer if he didn’t mention he was going to the bathroom more often in the middle of the night at the end of his quarterly GP check up.

“I made a joke about how I was getting old,” the 53-year-old said.

But his doctor decided to order a blood test and the results were shocking.

A trip to the urologist and a few scans later confirmed the worst — advanced prostate cancer.

“They (doctors) told me once it’s left the prostate … a cure isn’t an option anymore,” the Morphett Vale man said.

Mark Godfrey was diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was 51. Picture: Keryn Stevens

That was September 2022 and since then Mr Godfrey has been undergoing hormone treatment, taking tests every three months to see if it is working.

“The way I see it now is that life is three months at a time,” he said.

“You get three months, take a test and see if you get another three months.”

In December 2023 he discovered he was resistant to the hormone therapy and it had only been working for five months.

“Some people, if they are lucky, some of these (hormone) therapies can work for many years holding it back,” he said.

“But once you become … castration-resistant which basically means you become resistant to the hormone therapy then that changes the ball game — it becomes much harder.”

Mr Godfrey began a support group, PALS Adelaide with younger men with the disease. Picture: Keryn Stevens

For Mr Godfrey he may be forced to look at other treatment options to prolong his life such as chemotherapy.

If chemotherapy fails, another treatment has just been registered on the Therapeutic Goods Administration called Lutetium-177 PSMA which is the first radioligand therapy.

Michael Hofman from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said “the radiation travels around the bloodstream, attaches to the prostate cancer and delivers high doses of tumour killing radiation”.

“It is very much a game changer to have a new treatment option that may either prolong life or improve quality of life,” Prof Hofman said.

The treatment, which is a form of liquid radiation, currently is a late stage treatment, for patients who have attempted hormone therapy and chemotherapy.

Prof Michael Hofman from the Peter MacCallum Cancer in Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

When Mr Godfrey discovered he was castration-resistant he said he became “a zombie” for a week, not leaving his couch for a week.

“It was the worst week of my life,” he said.

After attending a range of support groups and finding himself being the youngest person there, Mr Godfrey was inspired to create PALS, a group specifically for young men battling prostate cancer.

The first meeting was in July this year during Men’s Health Week.

He said he created the group for young men because there’s a “set of unique challenges” with battling cancer when you are likely still at work or raising a young family.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Originally published as Mark Godfrey creates community support during prostate cancer battle