Writer passing on men's health tips

Phil Gifford with All Black posters during the recent Lions tour. Photo/supplied

Seventy year old Phil Gifford reels off his health crises in a rush, as if they're of little importance - colitis diagnosed in 1984 which led to bowel cancer in 2012, two hip replacements, low-level skin cancer, and in 2008 prostate cancer.

Having been through the health system more than once prompted the longtime sports journalist and broadcaster to write his 25th book - his first outside sports - with Looking After Your Nuts and Bolts published in June for Men's Health Month.

His GP Graeme Washer, one of the founders of the Men's Health Trust, introduced Gifford to a range of specialists who gave interviews and then checked content. The book also includes first-person stories from, among others, yachting commentator Peter Montgomery who, although knowing he had prostate cancer, denied it for three months, and Mai FM announcer Nickson Clark, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in his 20s.

Gifford, who wrote sketches for Billy T James and is music reviewer for North and South magazine, says when his prostate cancer became public knowledge it was interesting to see the number of men his age sidle up to ask about it.

"Most want to know about the diagnostic blood test but specialists say there's no substitute for a digital exam. I tell them it's a one-horse race, a slight discomfort as opposed to ... the alternative.

"I don't think the average bloke will necessarily listen to a specialist but they will listen to another Kiwi guy who's been through the same thing.

"I'm trying to get across that you need to be proactive. Every single specialist said men should have an annual check from 50 and if there are any disease issues in their family, from the age of 40. Hopefully the doc will say, 'everything's great, see you next year' but wouldn't you rather know?"

His desire to inform men so they can deal with health issues has another, more tragic, wellspring too. His oldest brother was in his early 50s when he died of bowel cancer in 1985, while their father was 59 when he died of heart disease in 1964 - these days, he says, both deaths might have been avoided.

"Modern medicine is nothing short of a miracle. Nothing could be done about Dad's heart condition then, but now it wouldn't be an issue and if you catch bowel cancer early enough there's a 99 per cent cure rate - 99 per cent, that's astonishing, but the important words in that sentence are 'early enough'."

Nuts and Bolts includes simple tips for good general health, such as exercising a bit, drinking in moderation, not smoking, and not eating too much fatty food.

You're a bloody fool if you've got something 'not quite right' and don't do anything about it.

Phil Gifford

"I don't want to come across as Pollyanna-ish but if you're fit and generally healthy you'll deal much better with anything else that comes along."

The only topic he baulked at covering was sexual dysfunction but his wife Jan, who in 2011 beat an aggressive form of breast cancer, "slapped my legs and told me to get over it".

"I didn't take it as seriously as some of the other chapters but when I talked to Jan Burns, a Tauranga sexologist, and heard about strapping truck drivers breaking down because they couldn't have relations with their wife, I thought 'holy smoke there's something to this'."

After a while, Gifford says, he realised everyone, from heart specialists to nutritionists, was essentially saying the same thing - "in sporting terms, pick your coach". "It's at the heart of everything.

Start with your GP - find someone that you like, that you believe has your interests at heart and that you have enough confidence in to confide in if that becomes necessary. You're a bloody fool if you've got something 'not quite right' and don't do anything about it."

*Men's Health Trust menshealthnz.org.nz

the details
Phil Gifford appears at Tauranga Arts Festival on October 29 at 1pm. Tickets $20 from Baycourt or Ticketek. TECT cardholder discount available until October 6 (Baycourt only). See the full festival programme at www.taurangafestival.co.nz