One prostate cancer symptom rugby icon thought was just from excessive drinking

A former Scotland rugby union star has revealed the symptom which alerted him to a bout of undiagnosed prostate cancer.

Peter Wright, who played 21 times for Scotland and was part of the British and Irish Lions' 1993 team, has decided to open up about his battle with the disease in order to spread the message that men need to get their prostate checked. Speaking to the BBC, the 54-year-old explained that he was beset with "stomach pains" prior his diagnosis.

Initially, he dismissed it as run-of-the-mill discomfort following a heavy night on the pints, but decided to get it checked when his older brother Graham phoned him to say that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. "I had pains in my stomach," Peter recalled.

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"I was feeling sick and thought it was just down to the drink. But as it went on and on into December [2023] I'm thinking, 'There's obviously something not quite right here'."

Days later, Graham called and broke his sobering news to his brother, at which point Peter headed to the doctor's. He had to wait a few weeks to get the results from an MRI scan back, and after detecting that medics were concerned about him, his mind started doing somersaults.

"I've potentially got cancer," he remembered wondering. "Is it life threatening? Is it not? You've got people who have prostate cancer who don't need treatment, who can live with it for years and years and then you've got the other side where it's very aggressive and sometimes if you don't catch it quick enough… it's a time issue."

Since retiring, the former prop has forged part-time careers as both a coach, and a pundit at BBC Radio Scotland, but primarily drives lorries for a living. During those long drives, his overthinking mind went into overdrive and he started experiencing panic attacks.

"I had to take two weeks off work," he said. "I was doing a job early one morning and just started to sweat and my heart started pumping and I was thinking, 'What's happening here?' I thought it was a heart attack. I went to the accident and emergency.

"I was coaching at the time, but I couldn't go and coach because when I was going into crowds, I couldn't handle it, I couldn't talk to people, I just didn't want to go. I wanted to go home and shut that door because that was where I felt safest."

Scan results would later confirm his fears, but the good news was he'd caught it early thanks to his brother's cautionary predicament. The cancer, thankfully, was confined to his prostate, and following a successful round of surgery in September this year, Peter is now cancer free.

Looking back, the former rugby star credits his brother with saving his life. He also said he "burst into tears" when Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy announced that he had terminal prostate cancer earlier this year. "Here's a guy as fit as a fiddle, a massive sporting hero of mine, a great athlete and only 48-years-old," Wright said, adding: "I'm one of the lucky ones."