Cancer patient prized sex more than life

[MarrickG]

He prized his love life more than his life. To his detriment.

He had prostate cancer and could have been cured if he had had the cancer surgically removed at an early stage.

But because that carries a risk of his losing his ability to have sexual intercourse, he decided to gamble with his life.

He had been married only recently.

Impotence would have meant an end to sex with his 28-year-old wife and the possibility of children.

So he ignored his doctor's advice.

He died six months later at 30.

Prostate cancer is the third most common cancer among men in Singapore. It develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system.

On average, there are 534 new cases a year and 105 deaths from prostate cancer.

Speaking to The New Paper on Sunday, leading urologist Peter Lim recalled his youngest patient: "His prostate cancer was detected by biopsy and it was still at an early stage.

"I told him to remove it urgently or he will die. He asked me, 'Any danger?' I said, 'Yes, you have a high chance of impotency.' And he ran away.

"At that time, we did not have the robots and it was an open operation. The chance of his being impotent was high, at 80 per cent," Professor Lim explained.