Facing the Unthinkable: Keven Williams’ Journey with Prostate Cancer
When the renowned cyclist Sir Chris Hoy disclosed his stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis last autumn, Keven Williams experienced a haunting sense of déjà vu. It was a familiar narrative for him, as he had received a nearly identical diagnosis six years prior—prostate cancer that had already spread beyond the gland to his lymph nodes, spine, ribs, and other bones.
“I was pretty devastated,” he reflects. “The initial consultant I consulted told me to get my affairs in order.” Like Hoy, a six-time Olympic gold medallist who appeared to be in remarkable shape when diagnosed in his late 40s, Williams had always viewed himself as a picture of health. An amateur rugby player until the age of 35, Williams returned to competitive judo in mid-life and even ran a local judo club. Residing in Pyle, South Wales, with his wife, he is a father to three children and a grandfather to five. His active lifestyle, filled with sports and managing his engineering company, made his cancer diagnosis all the more shocking, especially since there had been virtually no warning signs.
“I had no symptoms leading up to my diagnosis,” Williams explains. “Out of the blue, I noticed blood in my urine and went to see my GP, who suspected a bladder infection. The local hospital performed a cystoscopy—a procedure using a small camera to inspect the bladder—and they found a small polyp. They assured me that it would be a simple removal procedure and that would be the end of it. It was only after I took the initiative to book a CT scan privately that I learned I had metastatic prostate cancer.”
Immediately placed on hormone treatment with a drug called abiraterone, Williams has managed to buy himself valuable time. Now, seven years after his diagnosis, he remains cautiously hopeful about the future but is acutely aware that his condition is ultimately incurable.
“I don’t like to refer to it as terminal, but my life now revolves around three-month cycles, waiting for my oncologist to perform the next blood test,” he shares. “I try not to dwell on having cancer—you have to keep living your life—but the reality is that I can’t really look beyond the next three months. It’s frustrating because I feel I should have been diagnosed much earlier. This highlights the necessity for widespread testing, ensuring that individuals are identified at a stage where they have a genuine chance of defeating the disease.”
Williams’ experience underscores the urgent need for improved diagnostics capable of detecting prostate cancer earlier in its progression. Recent data from NHS England indicates that prostate cancer has become the most prevalent cancer diagnosis in the country. However, unlike other cancers such as breast and bowel cancer, there remains no national screening program for prostate cancer. Williams considers himself a victim of this oversight. Just two years before his diagnosis, he underwent a medical check-up as part of his private health insurance, which included a physical examination of the prostate, and was given a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, he did not receive a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which might have signaled the presence of cancer before it advanced.
The Need for Screening and New Diagnostics
While any man over the age of 50 can request a PSA test from their GP through the NHS, there is no mandatory screening program in place. The charity Prostate Cancer Research cites the test’s high ‘false-positive rate’ as a significant reason for this lack of screening. An estimated 75 percent of men with elevated PSA levels do not actually have cancer, meaning that the use of the test for general population screening would result in many individuals undergoing unnecessary invasive follow-ups.
However, Prostate Cancer Research has gathered data suggesting that a more targeted program—offering PSA tests to high-risk groups including men with a family history of prostate cancer, those with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations, and all black men over the age of 45—could yield substantial public health benefits. Given that survival rates are notably higher for those diagnosed at an early stage, with some estimates placing the 10-year survival rate at 98 percent, the charity is advocating for the swift introduction of targeted screening.
Moreover, advancements in diagnostics are underway that could ultimately surpass the capabilities of the PSA test. EDX Medical, a company based in Cambridge, has developed a test utilizing an AI algorithm to evaluate over 100 distinct biological signals found in blood and urine samples from more than 31,000 prostate cancer patients. They anticipate that this test will achieve over 96 percent accuracy in identifying individuals with the disease, with availability expected either later this year or in early 2026.
Additionally, Prostate Cancer Research is funding efforts to create a blood test that can determine whether a patient has high-risk or low-risk prostate cancer based on thousands of DNA patterns indicating whether key genes have been activated or silenced. This is critical, as many individuals diagnosed with prostate cancer harbor slow-growing tumors that are unlikely to spread and thus require monitoring rather than aggressive treatments that come with various side effects.
Improved testing methods may also help address the significant disparities related to prostate cancer that exist based on geography and ethnicity. Men residing in the most disadvantaged areas of the UK are 29 percent more likely to receive a late-stage diagnosis, while prostate cancer tends to be more aggressive among black men, whose lifetime risk of dying from the disease is one in 12, compared to one in 24 for white men.
Research indicates a potential link between environmental contaminants and prostate cancer, as individuals in lower-income neighborhoods often live closer to busy roads, chemical plants, and industrial sites, increasing their risk. Panagiotis Katsonis, a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in the US, points out that frequent exposure to industrial emissions, diesel exhaust, pesticides, tobacco smoke, and agricultural chemicals can inflict significant DNA damage and hinder the functionality of DNA repair genes, thus heightening prostate cancer risk. Further research has uncovered that black men are more likely to carry certain gene mutations that elevate their risk of the disease, which could be integrated into future diagnostic tests. “Emerging evidence suggests that variations in crucial biological pathways, such as DNA repair, androgen receptor signaling, and immune response, may contribute to this disparity,” notes Katsonis.
Hope for the Future
For individuals like Keven Williams, who find themselves diagnosed at a more advanced stage, treatment options are steadily improving, providing more avenues for extending survival. Prostate cancer is driven by hormones—specifically testosterone, which enables cancer cells to proliferate and spread. New therapies are being developed to target androgen receptors on tumors and throughout the body, effectively blocking testosterone from binding.
“Research has shown that if we can target the androgen receptor with specific drugs, patients can respond positively, and this can help maintain the disease in check for several years,” explains Adam Sharp, an oncologist specializing in prostate cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research.
In 2018, Williams was fortunate to enroll in a clinical trial called STAMPEDE, which involved a combination of radiotherapy and the hormonal drug abiraterone, which he took for five years. This drug has been validated as a first-line treatment for advanced prostate cancer before chemotherapy is considered, although the side effects can be quite debilitating.
“People often say, ‘If I get cancer, I’m going to make a bucket list and do this or that,’ but it doesn’t really work like that,” Williams admits. “My testosterone levels have been at zero for over four years, which severely affects your metabolism. I often felt drained, and for the first couple of years, I had to force myself to stay active.”
Alongside the side effects, testosterone-lowering medications typically have a limited duration of effectiveness—eventually, the cancer continues to advance. However, oncologists are actively exploring new strategies to manage drug-resistant prostate cancers and further extend life expectancy. Clinical trials are investigating innovative forms of radiotherapy directed at prostate cancer cells, as well as treatments tailored for patients with specific genetic alterations related to DNA damage. Sharp is keen on promoting interest in a drug called NXP800, currently undergoing clinical trials for ovarian and bile duct cancers, which appears capable of reducing testosterone through alternative biological pathways. “Our vision is to utilize treatments like NXP800 in patients whose current hormonal therapies have become ineffective,” he states.
While Williams is well aware that his cancer is incurable, he focuses on making the most of the time he has left, navigating his treatment options with the aim of living alongside the disease for as long as possible. He still has chemotherapy available for when his cancer becomes resistant to hormonal treatments, and he stays informed about the latest advancements in therapeutic options.
In the meantime, he counts himself fortunate to have experienced more time with his family than he initially expected. “I feel grateful to have had a competent oncologist who initiated hormone treatment promptly,” he shares. “I know friends with advanced prostate cancer who opted for chemotherapy instead and sadly passed away within a year. Over the last seven years, I’ve welcomed two grandchildren into my life, moments I thought I might never witness. I attended my youngest daughter’s wedding a couple of years ago, an event I really shouldn’t have been there for. So, I’ve made it a point to cherish life and create lasting memories with my loved ones.”
