WHAT started as a day of joy with the birth of a new grandchild turned into one of total shock for Owen Neil when a phone call informed him he not only had advanced prostate cancer but it was incurable.

Until that fateful day, the 65-year-old from Troon had been fit and healthy with no symptoms of illness other than some difficulty passing urine.

An initial test came back clear but the next day he was asked to go back immediately to his GP surgery where an internal exam found his prostate was very enlarged.

It was the middle of a Covid ­pandemic lockdown but Owen (above) was sent for a series of scans and a biopsy on his prostate which had swollen to the size of a tennis ball. The phone call came a few weeks later in March 2021.

“I just could not believe it,” he told the Sunday National. “I had been fearing the worst, but to hear it and to hear that it was actually ­advanced cancer and was incurable was ­terrible.”

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Because the NHS was under so much pressure as a result of the ­pandemic, it took six months to ­complete all the scans necessary to determine what treatment could be given to prolong his life.

“That added to the stress – it was pretty tough,” Owen said.

In October 2021 he started ­hormone treatment but it affected his liver and had to be changed. ­Radiotherapy began early in 2022 but Owen ­contracted Covid during the sessions in hospital which caused an immune system reaction and triggered chronic arthritis. By the ­following October, he was at “an ­all-time low”.

“My mental health deteriorated significantly,” he said. “I was really struggling. I had very little mobility and severe fatigue but I couldn’t sleep and it just seemed like an endless cycle of medical appointments and blood tests.

“You try to put on a brave face for your family and keep doing things but at one point, I could not walk any ­further than 25 yards and had back pain and joint pain.”

As this was 18 months after he had been given an estimated lifespan of two to five years, he wasn’t even sure if there was any point in continuing with his treatment.

“The doctors said I should stick with it because they had nothing else to offer me so I did because I have four grandkids, two daughters and my wife who are the most important thing to me.”

It was when he reached rock bottom that he heard about the Prostate FFIT (Football Fans in Training) which has been ­specially designed for men with ­prostate ­cancer and is run in ­partnership with the SPFL Trust and delivered through Scottish football clubs.

Almost 100 men have so far taken part in the programme at Rugby Park, Tynecastle and Ibrox Stadium and a new course has just started at ­McDiarmid Park in Perth.

Developed by Prostate Scotland in partnership with the SPFL Trust, the University of Glasgow’s Health And Wellbeing School and The ­Exercise Clinic, as well as clinicians and men living with prostate cancer, it is a tailored version of the SPFL Trust’s flagship health and wellbeing programme, Football Fans in Training (FFIT), which takes place at football clubs across the country and has been helping people to become more active and feel ­fitter, healthier and happier.

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Owen, left, said he was a bit nervous about signing up as by then his arthritis was so severe he could barely walk a few yards.

“I was worried about it because I knew there was a lot of exercise ­involved and at the first session I could see I was definitely one of the most immobile. But it was the best decision I ever made in my life to go along – it was truly life-changing and helped me in every way.”

He can now walk around 10,000 steps a day and has come off ­painkillers.

As well as his physical health, his mental health has also been given a boost through being able to talk to other men with prostate cancer, make friends and even have a laugh.

Owen said: “The NHS is ­focused on your cancer and treating it. There’s little time to discuss anything, but with this programme, you are in a room full of people in the same position as yourself and able to talk openly about the difficulties and ­family concerns – it’s just amazing.

“As well as exercise and advice on nutrition, you are given information about the disease from experts and are able to ask all the questions that you don’t get time for at your hospital appointments.

“For the exercises, you go on to the training ground and start from a very low level on gentle ones specifically tailored for people with the disease. It is absolutely fantastic.”

He added: “I could not believe someone had seen the need to try and do something for guys like me. I feel very privileged to have been able to take part and appreciate very much the time and effort people put in to helping us.

“Because of that, I committed fully to every bit of advice on nutrition and exercise. We’ve changed our eating habits and now buy things we never used to.”

At the beginning, the men were ­given a test where they had to stand up from a sitting position on a chair as many times as possible in 30 ­seconds. The pain in Owen’s back at that point was so bad he only ­managed a few.

By week eight, he was off painkillers and by the end of the 12-week ­programme, he was able to stand up from a chair 34 times in 30 seconds.

Now, even though the course has ended, Owen is still in touch with the group and meets a few regularly for a chat and a laugh.

“I can’t speak about it highly enough and all the others feel the same,” he said. “The course is ­phenomenal and I will never be able to thank them enough because they have given me my life back.”

He added: “I would encourage ­people to give money to charities who organise these things because they are changing people’s lives – but this time it’s not for the worse but for the better.”