Prostate cancer survivor plans Sahara trek to back better testing
A 75-year-old man who has lived with prostate cancer since 2012 is preparing to walk 100km across the Sahara desert in a bid to fund better testing for the disease. Rodger Allen, from Wellington in Somerset, says his diagnosis has left him living “under the cloud” of prostate cancer for the rest of his life, even after years of experience in oncology research have helped him make sense of the illness.
His challenge is as much a personal statement as a fundraising effort. Allen has also been treated for throat cancer and skin cancer, giving him a long and direct exposure to the uncertainty that follows a cancer diagnosis. He says the money raised for Prostate Cancer Research should help move the field closer to a more reliable test, one that can detect clinically significant disease earlier and reduce the uncertainty that shadows so many men.
The trek is scheduled to take a week and will start and finish in Ouarzazate, Morocco, with five stops at camps along the route. Allen will be joined by his son, James, and guided by Berber tribesmen across terrain that is far removed from the clinical world in which prostate cancer is usually discussed. Yet the journey reflects the very real burden of living with a disease that can remain silent for years before it is found, then remain psychologically present long after treatment decisions have been made.
A survivor’s campaign for more dependable detection
Allen’s message is blunt. “We need a better test for prostate cancer and this money can help go towards making that a reality,” he said. For a disease where diagnosis can change the course of life even when symptoms are absent, the call for improved testing carries clear clinical weight. Better testing is not only about finding more cancers; it is about distinguishing the cancers that threaten life from those that may never cause harm, while avoiding delays in patients who need prompt treatment.
That challenge sits at the center of prostate cancer care. The prostate gland can produce cancer that behaves in very different ways, and a single imperfect test can leave men and their clinicians balancing false reassurance against unnecessary alarm. In that setting, a stronger diagnostic pathway can influence nearly every part of care, from whether a biopsy is needed to how quickly treatment begins and how much anxiety follows a suspicious result.
Allen’s background as a retired oncology research scientist gives his comments added resonance. He said his professional experience helped him cope with the diagnosis, but it did not remove the disease’s long shadow. The emotional and practical burden of cancer often persists well beyond the first consultation, especially when the disease is chronic or requires ongoing surveillance rather than a one-time cure.
A short sentence captures the reality. Prostate cancer does not end when the clinic visit ends.
Heat, sand and the strain of a week-long desert crossing
The physical demands of the Sahara trek are substantial. Allen said the large sand dunes will be the biggest challenge, particularly in likely temperatures that can climb to 40C during the day and fall to 0C overnight. That kind of thermal swing creates obvious strain for any walker, and it adds a further layer of difficulty for a 75-year-old participant taking on an endurance event over a week.
He has already prepared by walking across Merthyr Mawr in Wales, home to the highest sand dune in the country, known as the Big Dipper. The preparation suggests a deliberate approach rather than a symbolic one-off gesture. In endurance terms, sand changes the mechanics of walking completely, forcing greater effort from the calves, hips and core while increasing the risk of fatigue over long distances.
For a fundraiser tied to cancer care, the terrain also carries a certain irony. Desert walking is difficult, isolating and repetitive, much like the long stretch of follow-up that can define survivorship in prostate cancer. The disease may be managed, but the uncertainty can remain, and the need for better detection methods continues to drive research priorities.
Research funding and the search for a better diagnostic path
Megan Smart of Prostate Cancer Research said the charity was “totally inspired and just motivated” by Allen and would support him as much as possible. She added that the money raised would help “change that future for men” with prostate cancer. The comments point to a central issue in the field: funding for research remains essential if testing is to become more precise, more accessible and less disruptive for patients.
Improved testing matters because prostate cancer is not a single clinical entity. Some tumors progress slowly, while others behave aggressively, and the diagnostic system needs to separate those groups more reliably. When testing is imprecise, men can face invasive procedures they may not need, or delays that let more dangerous disease advance unchecked. A better test would reshape that pathway by making the first clinical decision more trustworthy.
Allen’s own experience illustrates why this matters beyond statistics. He has lived with prostate cancer for more than a decade and has also faced two other cancers. That cumulative burden is not abstract. It changes how patients think about risk, survivorship and the future, especially when the disease is chronic enough to keep returning to the mind even after active treatment has passed.
His fundraiser will not alter the science on its own. What it can do is keep pressure on the question that now drives much of prostate cancer research: how to identify the men who need intervention without subjecting everyone else to the cost, anxiety and uncertainty of imperfect testing. For Allen, the trek is a way to translate experience into action, and to push for a diagnostic answer that still does not exist in a fully satisfactory form.