When Kieran Clark died of prostate cancer in November, he was 38 years old. That fact alone is jarring. Prostate cancer is typically a disease of older men.
But his death set off a chain of events his colleagues are now cycling 1,000 miles to honor. The ride began July 1 at Land’s End, the most southerly air traffic control site where Clark worked as an engineer for NATS.
The finish line is Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Isles, 10 days and 1,000 miles later. Rob Thick, from Prestwick, and Hadley Gibson, from Carlisle, are doing the pedaling. But they are not alone.
Before Clark died, his male colleagues on the NATS Outstations team did something unusual. They got PSA tests — Prostate-Specific Antigen blood screens that can flag early signs of the disease.
The spokesperson for the group said Clark’s illness prompted them. One of those colleagues, Paul Graham from Paisley, tested positive. He had no symptoms.
None at all. Graham has since had surgery to remove his prostate. He is now waiting to learn whether he will need radiotherapy.
The spokesperson said Graham feels Clark saved his life through his own death. That is a heavy thing to say about a friend who died at 38.
The cyclists were scheduled to pass through their home regions between July 5 and July 7. The timing matters. It brings the cause close to the people who knew Clark, and to those who did not but might now pay attention.
The fundraising target is £20,000. As of Friday, July 3, the total sat at just over £7,700.
That is a long way from the goal, with most of the ride still ahead. On their fundraising page, the group wrote plainly: “The ride is being organised in memory of our good friend and colleague Kieran Clark, who we sadly lost in November to prostate cancer at the young age of 38.” They added that Clark was someone many of them worked alongside and shared good times with. His loss, they said, has been deeply felt by a huge number of people.
The route itself is a kind of geography of loss and remembrance. The page explains they are cycling from Clark’s most southerly site, Land’s End, as a tribute to his years as an air traffic control engineer. It is a long, physical slog — 10 days in the saddle, through weather and hills and fatigue — for a man who cannot see them finish.
What happened before the ride is perhaps the more important story. A group of men in their prime, working together, got tested because one of them was dying.
One of them came back positive with no warning. That is not a common outcome. But it happened here.
The spokesperson did not say how many of the team took the test, or whether others besides Graham received concerning results. What is known is that one man’s death set off a medical intervention that likely saved another man’s life.
That is the background the cyclists are carrying with them up the length of Britain. Prostate cancer is treatable when caught early. The PSA test is not perfect — it can produce false positives and lead to unnecessary biopsies.
Medical guidelines vary. But for Graham, it worked exactly as it should have. No symptoms.
A positive result. Surgery.
A waiting game now for the next step. The ride is not just about money. It is about making other men aware that a simple blood test can find something before it finds them.
Clark was 38. Graham had no symptoms.
Those two facts are the whole point.
