22-year-old Millwall fan fronts football-focused Prostate Cancer UK campaign after losing his dad at 51 to the disease

The 22-year-old son of a Millwall fan who died at 51 from prostate cancer is reprising his dad’s campaign to raise awareness of the disease ten years after his death with a film that will be shown at the club’s Championship match on Saturday November 8.

Brian Kilgannon, who was born and raised in New Cross, south-east London, was a lifelong fan of Millwall FC.

In 2012, at the age of 48, he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer – having dismissed his symptoms for too long, by the time the cancer was caught it was incurable. He died three years later.

Before his death, Brian teamed up with Prostate Cancer UK to deliver a powerful campaign alongside his beloved football club to raise awareness of the disease, ensuring that the demographics most at risk – men over 50, black men, and those with a family history of prostate cancer – heard his message and knew the signs to look out for.

He wrote a letter to the charity, thanking Millwall for donating their shirt sponsorship for the 2013/14 season to Prostate Cancer UK, and that letter was turned into an award-winning film that the charity used to engage football fans.

This year, to mark the tenth anniversary of Brian’s death, his son Will, now 22, is the face of a new campaign that reconnects Prostate Cancer UK’s mission with football fans.

A new film, which Will stars in, will premiere at Millwall’s Championship match against Preston on Saturday November 8 and he said he is “honoured” to be involved in the campaign alongside his club.

“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,” Will told PA Real Life.

“Reprising this initiative a decade on is something I’m absolutely honoured to be a part of.”

Will grew up in south-east London, raised by his dad Brian and mum Loretta. He was “brought up in a Millwall household” and has “very fond memories of going to Millwall with (his) dad from a very young age”.

“My dad was everything you could ask a dad to be,” he added.

“A family man, caring, funny, just a very loving man as well.”

Now working as a civil servant and living in west London, Will feels passionate about continuing the mission his dad began about raising awareness of prostate cancer, working with his beloved club to encourage men to stay aware of the signs of prostate cancer and get checked.

“When I first was told that my dad was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, I was only very young. I think I was nine at the time,” he said.

“It was actually on the opening day of the London Olympics, so at a time of national enjoyment for the country, I was hit by this massive bombshell and I knew there would be a future for me that didn’t have my dad in it.

“There’s no good time to lose a parent, but at such a young age and such a vulnerable age, it was a very daunting and very scary time.

“As a family, both myself and my dad wanted to try to create as much of a legacy as possible, and also ensure that other families wouldn’t go through what we went through as a family. It was really important that we got in touch with Prostate Cancer UK.

“We’d recognised that Millwall had given up their front-of-shirt sponsorship for the 2013/14 season, so we came forward and shared my dad’s story with Millwall, as a massive Millwall fan, to raise as much awareness of prostate cancer to ensure that other families weren’t going to go through what we did.

“We knew that one thing that we could do was try to help as many other people as possible and that’s what we set out to do.”

This new campaign video, he added, is “to pay homage to the first video that my dad did over a decade ago”.

“Really, though we’re creating a new video, the messaging still stays the same, that we need to raise as much awareness for prostate cancer and as much funds for vital research and life-saving treatment as possible.”

Football matches are an ideal place to share the message, Will said, as they are likely to be attended by men who are statistically more likely to be affected by prostate cancer.

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 over – putting into perspective the importance of spreading the word amongst this key group.

“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and targeting men at football stadiums is crucial, because one man dies of prostate cancer every 45 minutes,” he said.

“If you equate that to a half of a football game, that’s one man dying every half of football. That kind of messaging and those statistics really hit home with the football crowd, I think.

“I think football provides a forum that enables men to come together and not only speak about the action on the pitch, but also the action off the pitch, and talk about what they’re feeling and potentially any symptoms they’re feeling.

“So it’s absolutely crucial that this message is spread and shared as far and wide as possible, amongst the football community, to raise awareness especially amongst the key age groups and target groups of men over 50, men with a black background, and also men that have family history, like me.

“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.

“I think what my story very clearly alludes to is that my dad left it too long. My dad left it too late.

“Prostate cancer is a curable disease that, if caught early enough, can be cured, and many men can be treated and live with prostate cancer, it can be controlled. But my dad, he left it too late, he ignored the symptoms, and it spread outside the prostate, and therefore became incurable.

“I think what is most important to me is that men understand their risk, and if they feel any symptoms, or are in those specific groups, that they speak to their GP and open that conversation with them about getting tested and getting checked for prostate cancer.”

Will said he is incredibly proud of his club for carrying the baton alongside him. Millwall has in the past been associated with hooliganism but Will thinks its ongoing support for Prostate Cancer UK is a point of pride.

“Absolutely, Millwall does often get a bad rep, has some undesirable moments, but actually it’s times like these and partnerships like these that really show that Millwall is a family club willing to support and throw their weight behind any good cause that they can, and really get the message out there.

“As a Millwall fan myself, I’m obviously very biased, but I think it’s a fantastic thing that they’re doing.”

As Will looks forward to Millwall’s home game against Preston on Saturday November 8 where his film will be shown, he hopes his message will be well-received and be influential to the fans.

And, he adds, “hopefully Millwall can back it up with a good result as well”.

A spokesperson for Prostate Cancer UK said: “Prostate cancer is now England’s most common cancer and one in eight men will get it. It’s also the only major cancer without a screening programme – so you won’t be invited for a test.

“As prostate cancer doesn’t give you signs and symptoms in its earlier – more treatable – stage, it’s crucial every man knows his risk. 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 or their own risk can search “check my risk” and take Prostate Cancer UK’s 30-second online risk checker, or visit prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker