Prostate cancer survivor’s advice to all men: get a PSA test if you are 50 or over
- Veteran entertainer Anders Nelsson had the shock of his life when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer five years ago. Fortunately, it was operable
- Having taken a doctor’s advice to be screened annually for the disease after reaching 50, he urges other men to do the same, and talk openly about their health
Hong Kong-based actor, musician and former teen idol Anders Nelsson, who fronted the 1960s band The Kontinentals and had roles in Bruce Lee movies, aims to keep the fun in his life – and that of his fans and friends, despite his advancing age. To that end, he is sharing the life-saving advice his former doctor gave him: as you reach midlife, get an annual cancer screening.
In 2015, Nelsson underwent a robot-assisted operation to remove a cancerous prostate gland. Three months later, he returned to the stage at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for a concert with fellow senior singers including Joe Junior. The audience was unaware that Nelsson was wearing an adult diaper. “It was in case I hit a high note and leaked from the trauma from that,” recalls the 74-year-old Swede, who “had to be carried offstage as I kind of collapsed”.
To explain his return to work so soon after surgery, Nelsson cites his Scandinavian nature, passed down from his father. “It’s the tough genes of being a Viking … I just carried on.”
Prostate cancer is the third most common cancer in men in Hong Kong.
Nelsson’s father, who died in 2003 at age 86, had this illness and underwent brachytherapy, in which small radioactive pellets were inserted into his prostate. Nelsson was oblivious to his dad’s illness and treatment, learning of it later from his younger brother. “Men of that generation didn’t talk about it,” says Nelsson.
