St Annes dad with terminal cancer aims to raise £30,000 ahead of Chris Hoy cycling challenge
‘I wanted to see my daughter grow up’- a terminally ill dad from St Annes is sharing his story as part of a a huge fundraising mission.
A Fylde coast dad with terminal cancer is hoping to raise £30,000 during a padel fun day this weekend ahead of a major challenge with cyclist Chris Hoy.
57-year-old Mark Kingsley has been living with stage four prostate cancer for over five years now.
Back in 2021, the sudden death of his father from heart failure encouraged the St Annes resident to go for a general check up.
While Mark’s heart checks came back clear, doctors discovered his PSA level - a reading that can help detect prostate cancer- was 57, when it should be below four in a healthy male.
He was subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer and, within two weeks, was told it was at the most severe stage, having spread to his bones.
Mark, who shares a nine-year-old daughter Grace with his wife of 15 years, Anne, said: “I had no real symptoms, and I went from my dad dying to six weeks later, having cancer, and then them saying two weeks after that that it was actually stage four and terminal. Those couple of months knocked me for six back then.
“I couldn't believe it, to be honest. I was questioning everything, you know, why me, and why didn't I feel anything? … I was told my life expectancy would be about three years, and it's very difficult to get your head around something like that when you've been physically fit all your life. I went from being perfectly fine to being told that I've got three years to live.
“All I could think about was the thought of losing my daughter and my wife. I would have given up anything to see my daughter grow up. I know it’s cliche but missing her getting married, getting her first car, all of those things were flooding through my mind.”
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Mark was rushed into immediate treatment, undergoing four months of chemotherapy followed by a month of radiation as well as hormone therapy to remove testosterone from his body, which he still receives every three months.
He continued: “When I was told I'd have to go through the chemo and radiation, which you know means you're going to lose your hair, my daughter at the time was only four. She didn't know what cancer was and because I had a lot of hair originally, I didn’t want to lose any as then I’d have to explain to her what was going on. I've never suffered mentally all my life, but for those six months I had a lot of pressure mentally and I was thinking about giving up. I had a mate who got diagnosed with stomach cancer three or four months after me, and he literally died within six months. So I was going through all of this treatment, and then all of a sudden my mate gets it, and then my mate suddenly dies, so I had a whole host of emotions going on but then I started getting good news, like the cancer in my bone had shrunk, and my cancer in my prostate was pretty much asleep.”
In March 2022, Mark was told his cancer was stable, his PSA level having fallen to 0.05 which is classed as undetectable.
Since then, the former Civil Service worker has gotten into alternative medicine and wellbeing practices to help prolong his life, for instance he regularly uses a hyperbaric chamber, infrared sauna and ice bath, whilst also playing padel and taking supplements.
More than five years after his terminal diagnosis, Mark says he is fitter than he was in his 30s and having reached that milestone, he has decided to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK to raise awareness of the disease and support research into new treatments.
One of the biggest inspirations for Mark came when he watched Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, who was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer two years after him, raise over £800,000 last year for Prostate Cancer UK with his first Tour de 4 event.
Mark has since signed up for the Tour de 4 2026, which takes place next month, and he will be doing it with five friends he met playing padel across Lancashire.
To raise funds ahead of the challenge, the group will be hosting a fundraising day at Performance Padel Preston this Sunday (August 30).
Explaining why now was the right time to start raising awareness, Mark said: “The first couple of years, I struggled mentally, constant tests and worry but when I got to five years, I started getting a little bit more confident. I started thinking to myself ‘Well, maybe it's not going to come back’ and it’s given me more confidence to talk about it and help others with all the information I’ve learnt over the past five years.
“The other thing is, I watched the Tour de 4 last year with Chris Hoy, and it was quite inspiring because he's got exactly the same as me but he's still out on his bike doing 40/50 miles a day. I used to cycle, but as soon as I got prostate cancer, I got scared because you're bouncing on your prostate all the time, so I hadn't ridden a bike for five years, up until the last six weeks where I’ve started to train for this Tour de 4. Watching it last year made me realise that I wanted to give something back. I just wanted to pour my efforts into trying to help other people.”
Running from 10am to 6pm, the fundraising day in Preston will feature padel tournaments, live music and a BBQ whilst for the kids there will be crazy golf, a bouncy castle and free padel coaching sessions.
Mark said: “The main thing about the fun day is I just want to spread awareness. You know, it's all about getting tested. If you get tested early and they find it early, then it's really quite a straightforward cancer to manage. If I hadn't gone to be tested when I was, the cancer would have been growing in my body, sticking to my bones and my liver and my organs, and then I'd have started getting ill somewhere down the line and 6/7/8 months later, well, I probably wouldn't be here now. I caught it as early as I could. I've got a load of free test kits so if anyone wants to take a kit home, they can test themselves.
“The fun day is also about raising as much as we can for the cycle we're doing the week after. We've got various things going on, and every penny that we raise is going into the Tour de 4 pot. The courts have all been donated to us, and we’ve had loads of prizes given to us for a raffle. At the minute we’re on about £20,000 just from sponsorship alone, so on the day I’m hoping to make that £30,000 if I can, which is a great amount of money.
“I’d like to go into the Tour de 4 as one of the top 10 donation collectors, but more importantly, I just want to get people down, get them involved in a game of padel, especially if they’re new to padel, get people tested and make them aware of what this cancer is and it can be treated very successfully if caught early.”