Steve Rider urges men to get checked after prostate cancer diagnosis

Sports presenter Steve Rider has encouraged other men to “recognise your vulnerability” as he revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 73-year-old broadcaster, who previously hosted BBC’s Grandstand and Sportsnight, will be undergoing surgery this weekend after receiving his diagnosis last month.

Rider revealed he learnt of his diagnosis the day after he took part in Jeff Stelling’s latest charity Football March in honour of his former colleague Bill Turnbull, who died from prostate cancer in 2022.

The sports presenter recalled to the PA news agency that he got tested after one of his friends was diagnosed with the cancer after undergoing a routine medical check.

“He had a scan which showed some alarming things going on with the prostate and within a month he had the full operation and that woke everybody up because he had no symptoms and very fit guy, and roughly our age,” he said.

Rider admitted that after he was first tested he planned to do “absolutely nothing” as his readings were “not that high”, but his wife urged him to get further examinations.

On September 17, he went from Wembley Stadium in London to the home of Wycombe Wanderers FC in High Wycombe alongside more than 350 others as part of Stelling’s 26.2 mile charity walk – and the day after he received his biopsy result.

He said: “I thought the worst that can happen is that I’m going to be monitored for the next six months or so and we got the results of the biopsy the next day and they said ‘No, you come in as soon as you can, we’re going to operate’.”

Rider finished filming the British Touring Car Championship for ITV on Sunday and will go in for surgery later this week.

He said his diagnosis was aided by his friends having open conversations and his wife encouraging him to get further tested, saying: “We do tend to treat these things a little bit like getting your eyes tested or ears done, you can put it off and maybe think ‘Well, I’ll wait till the symptoms come’.

“Symptoms don’t come and when they do is it is probably too late.”

He added: “The message is to recognise your vulnerability, especially with age and family history and so on. And if you do feel that you fall into those categories, then get yourself checked.”

Rider also praised his former colleague Turnbull for creating greater awareness of prostate cancer by speaking out about the disease.

The late BBC Breakfast host revealed his diagnosis in March 2018 and detailed his treatment in a Channel 4 documentary called Staying Alive.

Rider said: “The great thing about Bill was that he wanted to turn his misfortune into an information campaign which would save hundreds of others and I’m sure that probably hundreds and thousands of men have stepped back from a really serious cancer because of the attention that Bill Turnbull brought to early diagnosis and testing.

“And apart from that, he was a lovely, lovely guy.”

He also commended Stelling for carrying on Turnbull’s legacy with the charity walks and said it was a “privilege to be able to join them”.

Prostate Cancer UK has said the disease affects one in eight men in the UK and that more than 12,000 men die every year from the condition.

They advise that if a man is over the age of 50, Black, or has family history of prostate cancer that he may want to speak to a GP as these are higher risk factors.

To find out more about your prostate cancer risk, or that of your partner, father or friend, you can visit Prostate Cancer UK’s website – prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker – and try the 30 second online risk checker.