HE is famously a one-club man but Saints legend, Matt Le Tissier, has signed up for another team – Men United.

Forget football, this club is for any man regardless of their skills on the pitch.

The former Southampton midfielder lost his father-in-law, Hisham, to prostate cancer 17 years ago, so when his driver, Dave Hill, known as Big Dave, was diagnosed with the same disease, he pledged to do everything he could to support his friend.

Today he is calling on all men to sign up to the charity campaign to fight against the disease which kills one man every hour in the UK.

Dave, who first met Matt while he lodged with his friend when he signed for Southampton nearly 30 years ago, got the shock diagnosis last August.

Dave, who suffers from diabetes, noticed a change in his urine.

However Dave, who was a driver for Alan Ball and carried his coffin at his funeral, went to the doctors immediately and asked for a test.

Within days he was told the devastating news he had cancer.

“PSA stands for Prostate Specific Antigen and they said the normal is usually lower than 4. Mine was 65. I had 11 tumours on my prostate.

“I cried my eyes out, but I didn’t want to be scared of it, so I had to get my head around it. I’ve got ten grand kids I wanted to see grow up and an amazing wife and great friends like Matthew.”

The former dressing room assistant and steward at The Dell and bouncer at Southampton’s night club, Top Rank, underwent gruelling treatment including tablets, hormone injections and radiotherapy.

Just before Christmas he was told the treatment had worked and his PSA was down to 0.4 and he was clear of the disease.

Now though he is determined to raise awareness to save lives.

He said: “You can count on one hand the number of blokes who check for testicular cancer or go and get a blood test for prostate cancer. Men just don’t do it.

“It’s all about catching it early. Don’t just say ‘ooh my wee is a bit funny.’ Go and get it checked. It is just a finger prick and if it wasn’t for that I’d probably be dead by now.”

Matt who has spent hours in the car with Dave over the years said that more men should talk about their health.

The former England international, who is a Sky Soccer Saturday Pundit, has worn a Prostate Cancer UK awareness badge every week on TV since Dave’s diagnosis, said: “Men aren’t great at talking about that kind of stuff. We’ve been mates a long time and got a lot closer the last few years, spending a lot of time in the car together driving up and down the country.

“Talking about these things and being more aware and getting people to spot the symptoms early enough would help to reduce the amount of people that will actually pass away because of it.

Daily Echo:

“If they can get the survival rates up through awareness, then that’s brilliant.

“Dave is very stoic. Once he got his head around it, he was incredibly strong. That’s the message you want people to have.”

Dave now faces regular tests, but feels like he has been given a chance thanks to his early diagnosis.

He added: “It makes you really value the things that matter and if you haven’t got friends, you haven’t got anything.”

FACTFILE - Prostate Cancer

  • Prostate cancer kills one man every hour in the UK.
  •  It is the most common cancer in men: one in eight men will be diagnosed with the disease in the UK. The risk is higher for black men, who face a one in four chance of being diagnosed.
  • If you are over the age of 50 or have a family history of the disease, your risk of developing prostate cancer is also higher than average and you should speak to your GP about your risk.
  • Join Men United, Prostate Cancer UK’s army of supporters, to help fund research that will revolutionise how prostate cancer is detected and treated.
  • Visit the website menunited.prostatecanceruk.org to sign up for the team and find out how to donate.
  • Anyone with concerns about prostate cancer or prostate problems can call a Prostate Cancer UK specialist nurse on 0800 074 8383 or visit the website prostatecanceruk.org.