When Ian Colby first experienced severe pain in his ribs, he didn’t suspect it would be anything alarming.

At 52, the former oil industry worker from Oxford was in peak physical condition. An avid long-distance runner, he had recently completed an impressive 3,500-kilometer cycling journey across France.

“I was considered an elite athlete,” Ian shared. “I only visited the doctor because I got a twig in my eye while gardening.”

He mentioned his recurring, intense rib pain during the visit. “The pain was so intense that I had to curl up into a ball,” Ian explained. His doctor decided to send him to the hospital for a scan.

As a father of four, Ian soon found himself on an unexpected and rapid medical journey. “I received a call from the hospital, urging me to see my GP immediately for a blood test,” he recalled. It wasn’t long before he received devastating news: he had prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones, spine, and pelvis. The condition was incurable.

Doctors informed him that patients with his diagnosis typically have a life expectancy of five to six years, with a maximum of ten years.

The blood test Ian had is called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, which can spot signs of problems in the prostate and is available at every GP practice. However, many men are never offered one.

Ian Colby, 57, was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer at the age of 52 after a blood test

The former oil worker believes he is proof that widespread screening for the disease is needed

The Mail, along with the charity Prostate Cancer UK, has long campaigned for men to be offered regular PSA tests as part of a prostate cancer screening programme.

But last week, health officials rejected the proposal. Instead, the National Screening Committee recommended that only middle-aged men with a genetic mutation that puts them at greater risk of prostate cancer should be tested for the disease every two years.

While it would mark the first time that the NHS will screen any men for prostate cancer, the decision (more details right), has been met with dismay. Laura Kerby, CEO of Prostate Cancer UK, described it as a ‘deep disappointment’. The charity added that it hoped a major UK trial taking place now will prove that prostate cancer screening is both safe and effective.

Ian Colby, now 57, believes he is proof that screening for the disease is urgently needed. He argues that, had he been offered a PSA test at a younger age, his life could have been saved: ‘I’d always taken good care of my body, but no one had ever told me about a PSA test.

‘I’d probably had this cancer for years, and if I’d gone for a test earlier it’s possible the NHS could have cured me. But by the time I got the test it was too late.

‘I don’t know how long I have left but, by the estimates the doctor gave me, I might have one or two years. I feel like I’ve been robbed of a long life. My children are grown up, but I won’t get to see them develop in their careers. I won’t get to meet my grandchildren.’

Every year, 63,000 men are diagnosed with the disease in the small gland below the bladder, and 12,000 men die as a result.

It kills more people annually than breast cancer – for which there is a screening programme. And each year, thousands of British men are diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer – when it is too late to be cured.

NHS guidelines allow GPs to offer patients a PSA test if they have symptoms of the disease. But those signs – changes to bladder habits, erectile dysfunction, blood in the urine or semen, body and bone pain or unexplained weight loss – tend to occur when the cancer has spread.

Men over 50 – or black men over 45 – can also request a PSA test from their GP. But experts say this approach means that many men are missed.

Dr Samuel Merriel, a Manchester GP, says: ‘Not all patients can get in to see their GP, and others haven’t heard of the tests. The system isn’t working and we need to do more.’

Critics fear screening could do more harm than good as the PSA test can give a false positive, leaving worried men needing further invasive tests. Experts also argue that, in some cases, men with slow-moving, non-threatening prostate cancer may end up getting needlessly risky treatment, such as surgery or chemo, as a result of an early diagnosis.

A 300,000-patient trial began this month to see if offering men a PSA test with an MRI scan – along with other ways of looking for the disease – could save a significant number of lives. First results of the Transform trial, partly funded by Prostate Cancer UK, are due in two years.

But for Ian this will come too late. ‘With screening, my cancer could have been caught and I might have lived longer,’ he says. ‘The Government needs to ensure every man on his 50th birthday is given the chance to get a PSA test. I don’t want others to end up like me.’