Triumph over mountains, a remarkable journey of resilience

In the heart of a tumultuous year a journey of unforeseen challenges and remarkable resilience unfolded for one man, avid hill-walker Phil Smith.

His narrative is a testament to the indomitable spirit that resides within when faced with life’s challenges and has spurred him on to advise others to take a simple medical test.

It all commenced with a routine check-up, a simple task often delayed as we lead busy lives.

“In November 2022, so 12 months ago, my wife said to me, ‘will you have any PSA done to check for prostate cancer?’ I said I was fit, had no symptoms, nothing wrong with me but I'd go and have the test done yes,” he said.

“I did and, if you're okay, you score under three. I scored 12. It was a big shock.”

The diagnosis catapulted him into an unforeseen battle but as a history buff, Mr Smith knows about battles, especially how they are won.

Following a whirlwind of medical consultations and examinations, Mr Smith found himself in the hands of doctors at Guy's Hospital in London. His surgery date, April 14, was in the middle of the junior doctors’ strike and he went into the only operating theatre that was active that day and had his prostate removed, marking a pivotal moment in setting the stage for a path to recovery.

Emerging from the haze of anaesthesia, Mr Smith said, “I came to from the general anaesthetic in the hospital ward and I thought ‘I've got to get back to full fitness’.”

“And I remembered Cadair Berwyn [a mountain in Wales] and I said ‘this year I'm doing it’.”

“So I started the training the next day on a Zimmer frame, going from one end of the hospital ward to the other, and then going back and having a major sleep.”

“And then, once I came out of hospital, I'd go out and walk five minutes one day and [building up to] seven and a half minutes. And once I've done that work, I would go back and I would sleep for a full two hours, in addition to the eight-hour sleep that I had the night before.”

“I kept going until they let me back to Gibraltar after a few weeks. And I would go from my flat in Brympton and I would walk down to Europa Point or walk down to Main Street and then get the bus back.”

He was consumed by an unyielding determination to reclaim his fitness and scale that mountain and, every day, he was walking a bit further and sleeping a bit less.

Six weeks after his operation he went back to have a test and they said his PSA was less than 0.008. Cancer not detected.

“I celebrated that weekend by walking up the Med Steps,” he said.

“However, Cadair Berwyn is twice as high as the Rock of Gibraltar at 800-odd metres as opposed to 400-odd metres.”

“So I set a date for going away in September and I was doing training. Starting at Rosia Bay at sea level, going all the way up to the top, coming back down and going back up again.”

He kept this up until he flew to Wales to take on the mountain.

And when he got there, he climbed Cadair Berwyn in absolutely perfect weather conditions.

“It took me, altogether, about six hours up and down and it was crystal clear. And as luck would have it, when I was on the top at the trig point, another walker came past and I said ‘can you take my photograph?’ I sent it to me surgeon and he was chuffed for me,” he said.

Cadair Berwyn is on a ridge and there are five different peaks on that ridge, so he did Cadair Bronwyn, Cadair Berwyn, North Top, New Top and Moel Sych.

And then, in the same holiday, he completed more peaks, namely Bwlch Mawr, Gyrn Ddu and Gyrn Goch, and then he did Moel Ysgy Farnogod and Foel Penolau which was re-classified in 2018 and is now the ‘newest’ mountain in Wales.

Some of these were less than 600 metres so they aren’t classed as mountains and are classed as hills, but he had seen them from other mountains and wanted to climb them.

A mountain has to be just under 610 metres above sea level and it has to have prominence, which means it has to be sticking up at least 30 metres above everything around it.

Undeterred by setbacks, Mr Smith embraced every challenge throughout his cancer journey as an opportunity to prove that adversities are mere stepping stones on the path to triumph.

With this in mind, and with Movember ending today, Mr Smith is imploring all men over the age of 50 to email prostate@gha.gi and book a PSA test. "It is a simple blood test," he said.