"The minute you hear the word cancer, that's when the mind starts racing," said a dad of three who is raising awareness about how a diagnosis can affect your mental health.
Seamus Connolly believes that a routine blood test he has undertaken since he hit 45, possibly saved his life by showing prostate cancer at an early stage.
The condition has also made him more aware of just how uncomfortable men are at talking about prostate cancer.
"I had no symptoms at all but I've been getting a blood test regularly since I was 45 years old just to keep a check on things," he said.
"The test showed elevated PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) levels which can denote prostate cancer so I was sent to the Mater Hospital for further investigations and after more tests, I knew I had a problem.
"The consultant kept referring to it as a 'mass' which kept things unreal for a bit"
Seamus, from Ballivor, Co. Meath, said that horror stories around the biopsy, which had made him anxious, had turned out to be untrue.
"It's not as bad as I thought and when you think that this exam could possibly save a life, why would you be embarrassed about it."
The 58-year-old is now gearing up for surgery in February but believes the blood test caught the cancer in its early stages.
"If I didn't get the test, the cancer would keep growing undetected until I got symptoms and at that stage, it may have spread to my bones or lymph nodes. If I waited for symptoms, it could've been a bridge too far."
The former construction worker said the diagnosis also affected his mental health, which he has struggled with for a number of years.
"The minute you hear the word cancer, that's when the mind starts racing, It's the word that does the harm
"I had a breakdown about ten years ago so I go walking now and try and talk. I need conversation and to be active. Thankfully my wife Sharon is my rock so we chat about it every day.
"I worked in construction. I know about the hard man who won't go to the doctor or talk about cancer, especially when it comes to that area of the body. Cancer doesn't care if you are a hard man or not - it doesn't care who you are at all. Truth is, one in seven men get prostate cancer in Ireland so if you have a prostate, then you can get prostate cancer. "
