Millwall fan in cancer campaign after dad's death

Will Kilgannon is reprising his father's cancer campaign video

A 22-year-old Millwall fan has said he is paying homage to his father by reprising his prostate cancer awareness campaign 10 years after his death.

Will Kilgannon's father Brian died aged 51, three years after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Brian Kilgannon from New Cross, south-east London, and was a lifelong fan of Millwall Football Club. Before his death, he teamed up with Prostate Cancer UK to deliver a campaign alongside his football club to raise awareness of the disease.

Will is following in his father's steps by starring in a campaign film that will be shown at the club's Championship match against Preston on Saturday.

"My dad was a really important part of my life and a very inspirational man that I really look up to and try to emulate as much as possible, and try to continue in his footsteps," he said.

"Reprising this initiative a decade on is something I'm absolutely honoured to be a part of."

Will Kilgannon said his father Brian raised him in a Millwall household

Football matches are an ideal place to share the message, Will said, as a large percentage of the crowd are men.

More than 63,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year – a number that could fill Millwall's home ground The Den more than three times.

"I hope it encourages men to go to their GP to open that conversation about their risk of prostate cancer, to go and get checked and go and get tested," Will said.

"Prostate cancer is a curable disease. But my dad, he left it too late, he ignored the symptoms, and it spread outside the prostate, and therefore became incurable."

A spokesperson for Prostate Cancer UK said the disease was England's most common cancer, and the only major cancer without a screening programme.

"As prostate cancer doesn't give you signs and symptoms in its earlier – more treatable – stage, it's crucial every man knows his risk," they said.

"You're at higher risk if you're over 50 and your risk increases as you get older. If you're black, or if your dad or brother have had it, you're at even higher risk."

Men who are concerned about prostate cancer can check their risk online.