Furry car and friends visit Thurso on charity run
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Some strange-looking vehicles that popped through Thurso on a charity run had one local man reaching for his camera.
Green-fingered Alexander Glasgow was out and about transforming the town with colourful blooms when he came across the weird assortment of cars in a small car park outside the Y Not Bar and Grill and took a snap.
"I bumped into Tim [Preece] from Shropshire on his Thurso stopover. As everyone was admiring his furry car I got talking to him," Mr Glasgow said.
He found out that Tim has cancer and experienced a particularly aggressive early onset form, and had his prostate removed entirely along with 26 lymph nodes.
"Unfortunately, either not all the malignant tissue was removed or it metastasised, and he is back on radiotherapy. With Mad Men Raising Cancer Awareness he is touring the NC500 – delayed from last year – to raise awareness and funds.
"Approximately one in eight men experience some form of prostate cancer. All cancers are concerning but this has been one of the least threatening and long-lived."
Mr Glasgow trained as a radiographer but ill-health and lack of parochial support at his school "put the kibosh on it", he claims.
"I have witnessed faecal vomiting, deglovings, gaseous gangrene and pyrogenic synovialitis – if you don't know what those are, count yourself lucky.
"As well as standard radiography, I have been in sonography and MRI departments, to which men with a raised PSA level were referred.
"I wrote about the literature relating to prostate cancer. One study which jumped out was that monks may have above average levels of incidence.
"It has been said the cancer dies with the man rather that the man dies with the cancer. Currently, their only diagnostic test is a PSA blood test. Very little seems to have changed since I was training 20 years ago."
One in eight men will develop prostate cancer and 11,500 die every year from it in the UK. It is the biggest man killer, says Tim Preece.
"My aim now is to make every male over 50 aware of a test you can take to prevent you from being one of the 11500 men that die from it every year."
Tim organised the Mad Men tour with some simple advice – buy a car for £500 max and drive 1550 miles. He asked all those interested to customise their vehicles with fancy dress to help raise awareness and donations for prostate cancer.
Doing a clockwise tour of the NC500 the Mad Men visited Thurso before hitting John O'Groats and Wick. They took a moment out to drop into Wolfburn Distillery at Thurso as well.
Mr Glasgow said: "If you're over 50, get a test. If you're under 50 and experience problems, don't delay and go to your GP."
Find out more about the Mad Men tour at madmen20.com
The charity fundraiser can be found at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/madmen20
