A brave dadhas told how ‘difficulty in the bedroom’ turned into a devastating cancer diagnosis.
Grant Maclachlan, 55, an on-call firefighter based at Auchterarder Community Fire Station, was urged to go and get checked by his wife after experiencing issues two years ago.
The dad-of-three has told how his wife told him to discuss going on the “little blue pills” to help with the issue with a GP.
But after tests in February 2023, Grant – who has served his community for more than 30 years – was told the gut wrenching news he had prostate cancer.
Now, after beating the disease, he has opened up on his battle to encourage other men to get help when something doesn’t feel right.
Grant, who also works as a site manager for a house builder, said: “Men tend to get embarrassed about talking about these things, but I listened to her. I went to the doctor.
“I very rarely go to a doctor. I class myself as fit and healthy, but my wife said ‘maybe you need some little blue pills’.
“People have asked me what made me go to the GP and I was embarrassed and initially kept that to myself. Now I have spoken about things I never imagined I could.”
“You have to talk about things and if there is something wrong you have to go to the GP. It may be nothing but it maybe something. Luckily, I went and got checked out.”
Grant’s wife Sandra MacLachlan has told how she burst into tears the night he broke the heartbreaking news of his diagnosis to her.
Grant said: “When I go the call to say they found cancer I was at work and had to go home and tell my wife. It must have been a good four or five hours before I managed to tell her and we hadn’t told the children anything at this point, we had kept it to ourselves.”
In May 2023, Grant went under the knife to remove his prostate, which resulted in a catheter being fitted.
He was doing well until a blood clot led to him spending five days in hospital.
Just weeks later he was given another devastating diagnosis when a unrelated scan revealing he had a cancerous growth on his kidney.
Grant said: “It was totally unrelated, and they were 99.9% sure it was cancerous. The nurse couldn’t believe it and said no-one has this luck.
“I had never heard of kidney cancer and there isn’t a test for it, other than a scan. We were able to find out about prostate cancer, but we were totally blind about kidney cancer.”
Grant had more surgery to remove the growth and two weeks later he was given the all clear.
He said he was put through hell during his cancer fight, but has praised the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and his family for getting him through it.
He added: “The worst bits were being told the prostate cancer could have spread to the bones and it was three weeks of hell waiting for that result and so was the time between the two operations.” I did find it tough and I went to the local Maggie’s centre a couple of times.
“It was really my wife and my family who got me through this. They have been brilliant.”
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