Feargal Sharkey has revealed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer after a routine visit to the doctor for a sore throat.
The former rockstar turned water campaigner says he is now ‘doing very well’ and has vowed to ‘continue the fight’ for clean rivers following the health scare that was ‘resolved’ a year ago.
For the first time, the Undertones frontman, 66, has shared his experience publicly, hoping to motivate other men to undergo cancer screenings.
He revealed that around a year and a half ago, he went to see his GP for a sore throat.
Knowing him well, the doctor insisted on running a full set of tests, noting Feargal’s age and sensing something more serious might be going on.
Speaking to the Express, he said: ‘Two days later, it turns out, I began a journey which led to the [diagnosis] of prostate cancer.
‘Thankfully, that’s all now been resolved a year ago.
‘But here we are, had it not been for that random visit to my local GP, I would never have known that I was at that point carrying prostate cancer, and if it had not been seen to, it could have been a very different ending and a very different outcome to my life.’
The 66-year-old water campaigner is now ‘doing very well’ and has vowed to ‘continue the fight’ for clean rivers following the health scare that was ‘resolved’ a year ago
For the first time, the Undertones frontman has shared his experience publicly, hoping to motivate other men to undergo cancer screenings
Knowing him well, the doctor insisted on running a full set of tests, noting Feargal’s age and sensing something more serious might be going on
He explained the reason he is happy to talk about it now is because he has a chance to raise awareness and appeal to men.
‘The reason I’m very happy to talk about it is because if there’s one man out there over the age of 45 go and see your GP. Go and get the blood test done.’
He made a direct appeal to men to get ‘have the blood test’, saying that ‘if you’re lucky, you’ll walk away’.
The Irish singer has been vocal against water companies, blaming their ‘greed, profiteering, financial engineering and regulatory incompetence’.
Last August, a map from water company United Utilities, which supplies wastewater services across the northwest of England, showed that storm overflows at two water treatment plants were dumping untreated raw sewage.
One is an outfall at Near Sawrey sewage works into Cunsey Beck, which flows into Lake Windermere – England’s largest lake. The other is at Hawkshead Pumping Station, which also goes to Windermere.
Operators of the plants, United Utilities, said that the spills were due to ‘heavy rainfall’ in the area, pointing out that there were weather warnings in place for the area and rainfall over 40mm between August 21 and 27.
Storm overflows are an emergency relief valve for the water network, which spills sewage into seas and rivers when there is heavy rainfall to stop it from backing up into homes.
Great stretches of Lake Windermere’s water has been turning alarming shades of green
Water company United Utilities has been slammed after it has been pumping raw sewage into Windermere in the Lake District for eight days (stock image)
But there is mounting evidence that suggests spills are happening when there is no heavy rainfall and they do not absolutely need to.
Campaigners do not believe water firms’ claims that heavy rainfall is the reason for the excessive sewage dumping and instead say the blame is on a lack of investment.
Former Undertones singer turned campaigner, Feargal Sharkey, said: ‘Sewage dumping has nothing whatsoever to do with heavy rain.
‘It is caused by greed, profiteering, financial engineering and regulatory incompetence.
‘Fix those and you fix the sewage scandal.’
In an interview on BBC Radio 4 Today, the 66-year-old was asked if the personal criminal liability for water bosses and the banning of bonuses for water bosses in the new water bill would address the issue.
In response, he said: ‘Whitehall has no monopoly in any of this by any means. Welsh Water, for example, is actually the largest sewage dumper in the United Kingdom. Scotland has any number of rivers in bad ecological condition.
‘Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland has been poisoned to the extent that it too now turns green, like Windermere.’
