A MARLBOROUGH man is using exercise to recover from a cancer operation to keep fit and stay positive.

Pete Mills, 64, a retired father of two underwent surgery for prostate cancer on April 8, at Royal Marsden Chelsea, and is on a course of medication and radiotherapy at the moment.

He said: “I suspected something was wrong when I could only pee weakly. I had to insist on a second opinion when my GP wasn’t convinced that I had a problem and went privately to get a PET scan and MRI scan which revealed I had prostate cancer.”

After the diagnosis he opted for medication to reduce the tumour and radiotherapy to remove it completely.

He was advised that a high level of fitness would aid his recovery and to cope with the treatment.

He said: “The treatment invariably causes muscle wastage and loss of bone density so when he found out more about the classes I did, they told me to keep going with them and stressed the importance of resuming my regime as soon after surgery I could manage.”

“A priority for me when I retired was to really get as fit as possible, drop some weight, improve my balance and work on my co-ordination,” he said,

“I reckoned group exercise classes would help me with this and despite the fact I was often the only man in the class, I signed up to the Les Mills Body Combat and Body Pump classes at my local leisure centre, the Herrongate Club in Hungerford.”