The Dark Knight star Colin McFarlane is diagnosed with prostate cancer
Dark Knight star Colin McFarlane confirms he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer after discovering a ‘genetic link’ to the disease
Colin McFarlane has revealed he has early stage prostate cancer.
The actor, 61, who is best known for his role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, opened up about his diagnosis after testing in December.
The father of one child said he’s glad he’s been regularly checked for the disease over the past eight years, which has helped doctors catch it early.
Colin explained to The Mirror that one in four black men is at risk of the disease, which kills 12,000 men a year and men are two and a half times more likely to develop prostate cancer if their father or brother has had it.
The BBC Not Going Out star also encouraged his two brothers to get checked and one of them has since discovered he also has prostate cancer.
‘There is a genetic link’: Colin McFarlan, 61, who is best known for his role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, has revealed he has early stage prostate cancer
Lucky: The actor opened up about his diagnosis after testing in December and said he’s glad he’s been regularly checked for the disease over the past eight years, which has helped doctors catch it early
Colin told the publication: ‘My dad is benign, but he had surgery in 1999 and he said to me, ‘Oh, I’ve decided not to tell you and your brothers because I didn’t want to worry you’.
“He wasn’t aware that it was actually really important that he told us, because there’s a genetic link.”
Colin was told by doctors that his cancer is T1 of five grades, meaning it is the earliest stage, so he is at ‘very low risk’ and does not currently require treatment.
He said, ‘You think, well, there’s a 70% chance I’m okay. They said “we’ll just give you a blood test,” the same blood test that highlighted this. “We will now do that every three months as a prostate-specific antigen test.’ And then I get an MRI once a year.’,
Colin went on to say how important it is for men to talk about prostate cancer rather than “wait for symptoms” that could mean the cancer has spread.
He expressed how catching the cancer early ensures it is “treatable and curable.”
Colin lives in Lincoln and London with wife Kate and son Josh.
Wow: The BBC Not Going Out star also encouraged his two brothers to get checked and one found out he also had prostate cancer