When my dad, Gerry Kelly, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2021, my world turned upside down.

Cancer is one of those words that lands with a thud. It changes everything instantly. One moment, life is ordinary. The next, you’re sitting with a knot in your stomach, wondering what the future holds.

And, if I’m honest, I might never have known that moment at all if it hadn’t been for my mam. She was the one who noticed something wasn’t right and, more importantly, the one who insisted dad go to the doctor. Left to his own devices, I don’t think he would have gone. That decision — her speaking up — changed everything.

People tried to reassure me at the time. “Ah, prostate cancer is very treatable,” they’d say kindly. And while I appreciated the comfort, it didn’t erase the fear. Treatable or not, it was still cancer. And it was my dad. The man who had always been larger than life, full of humour and energy, was suddenly facing something serious and frightening.

The months that followed were a blur of hospital corridors, waiting rooms, and whispered conversations. He had surgery, and thankfully, it went well. He came out the other side cancer clear. But being cancer clear doesn’t mean the story ends. It doesn’t mean life snaps back to normal.

What many people don’t realise — what I didn’t fully understand myself at first — is that the side-effects of prostate cancer treatment can last for years. They affect not only the man himself but the whole family.........

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