Prostate cancer survivor Mark Nugent from Wallsend hasn't only beaten the disease himself, he's also helped countless others including hillwalking pal Nick Lambert to get themselves checked and get treatment.
Marine insurance expert Mark was just 59 when he was diagnosed in 2018 - after picking up a Prostate Cancer UK leaflet by chance while he was at sea on a job in the Channel. After four years of treatment, radiotherapy has helped to "get rid" of his tumour and tests show he's well on the mend.
However, he's still working hard to help encourage others to get checked if they notice any strange symptoms - and next month with his fellow Tyneside Rambler Nick, he's encouraging everyone to take part in the Prostate Cancer UK charity's March the Month event to raise funds and awareness of the lethal disease.
Mark told ChronicleLive; "I was working on cross-channel power cables in 2018 and on board our vessel there were pamphlets from Prostate Cancer UK. I picked one up, read it, and decided I really needed to get checked out. With seafarers it's always 'the next leave'. I was 59 at the time. I had experienced a few, shall we say, urinary changes. So I went to the doctors and within a very short period of time I had been diagnosed with cancer."
Father-of-one Mark said he found that "incredibly hard" but that focussing on helping others check out prostate cancer symptoms had helped him. "For perhaps the first month after my diagnosis it was very difficult. It's life-changing," he said. "I was at home, just lying on the sofa watching rubbish on TV. But I decided I wasn't going to live my life like that.
"You have to bring down your focus and just look at the next day. Night-time can be particularly difficult. You may have - I did - wonderful support from family and friends, but at night-time that's when I was at my lowest ebb. What I would do is imagine I was boxing my tumour - beating seven bells out of it.
"When I was on that ship there were only three leaflets left. It's one of my big 'what if' questions: What if there hadn't been any there? I wouldn't have been aware of what was happening. I decided I wanted to help inform others."
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer afflicting men and 11,500 die each year. Recent figures shared by the charity - which has erected a memorial to victims of the disease in Eldon Square - show that in Tyne and Wear alone 5,000 people are living with the disease. Across the same geography, 824 men are diagnosed and more than 225 men die from the disease a year.
Mark added: "For me, promoting the work of Prostate Cancer UK and their health checker has given me something to focus on. When we would go out hillwalking, I used to take their beer mats, and and I realised I do send a lot of emails. On my email signature I put some information highlighting Prostate Cancer UK and linking to the risk checker. It's a fantastic tool.
"I don't know how many people I have helped, but I know there are a considerable of friends and colleagues who have gone for checks after seeing it. Even this week there's a man I know who has recently been diagnosed. I went up to see him and he really didn't know what to do. I pointed him in the direction of the Prostate Cancer UK nurses and he rang them up and now he said he feels so much better about things for having talked it through. The charity offer a fantastic service.
"It's just that it feels lovely to be making a positive contribution to the world."
Earlier this year, Nick told ChronicleLive how seeing Mark's email signature had saved his life. He said:"I had no symptoms of prostate cancer, and I felt physically fine. In previous years, I'd had discussion about prostate cancer with my wife, and perhaps gone to check what to watch out for, but everything talks about 'changes' - and I never really had any.
"But when I thought about Mark's story - and he's such an advocate for getting checked - I decided to do it."
Both men are now backing MarchTheMonth - while you can find out more about Prostate Cancer UK and the risk checker here.
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