Former British No 1 and Davis Cup Tennis captain John Lloyd reveals battle with cancer

John Lloyd has always considered himself a lucky man, blessed with family and friends and being able to work in tennis, a sport that he has loved throughout his life.So it came as a shuddering blow when he was told last year, out of the blue: 'You have prostate cancer.The great irony was that he first received the call to tell him the news while participating in a tennis day to help raise funds to fight that exact same strain of the disease.

History Of Lloyd

Now Lloyd, the 62-year-old former British No 1, Davis Cup player and captain, has chosen to share his story in the hope that it will encourage other men to make sure that they get checked and to relate how he has happily come out the other side.

He takes up the story of how it was only by chance that it was discovered early enough to ensure that a full cure was possible.'It was very lucky the way I found about it,' says Lloyd, who is on one of his regular visits to the UK to commentate at Wimbledon and its preceding tournaments.

I have basically never been ill a day in my life. I have been a very fit tennis player living a healthy lifestyle, I've always kept myself in good shape and I'm not much of a drinker.The only reason it was discovered was that I had moved full-time to Florida from Los Angeles and early last year I thought to myself that I need to find a new doctor and dentist. I had a few days off and I reckoned it was a job I needed to get done.When you get a new doctor there they ask you to do a full medical. I walked in there feeling great, I was playing tennis two hours per day and was actually feeling as good as I have done in years. So I went through some tests without much anxiety.

Five days later I was playing a prostate cancer charity tennis event in Florida, where some fairly high net-worth individuals pay to play with a selection of pros and ex-pros.So it was a Friday night and I get a voicemail from my doctor saying "Please call me immediately". He told me the tests I had done for my medical indicated I had a PSA [prostate-specific antigen] reading of 5.9, which is pretty high and that it definitely needed investigation.Three months later they did an MRI and still they could find no sign of anything wrong. Then they said they would do a biopsy and that actually found something, and they confirmed to me I had got it.The fact is that many older people die with prostate cancer and not because of it. No case is typical.The positive aspect of a traumatic episode in his life is that it has made Lloyd appreciate what he has got all the more. He said: 'I've always regarded myself as lucky so maybe my luck was due to change a bit, but I have come out of it feeling lucky again.

Link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-4657698/Ex-Davis-Cup-captain-John-Lloyd-reveals-battle-cancer.html