A World Record-breaking pinball marathon certainly hit the charity jackpot for Walsall’s prostate cancer patients as it helped towards the cost of a piece of equipment to help better identify the condition.

After a marathon 30 hours, pinball player Wayne Johns passed his fundraising goal of £5,000 and, at that time, also broke the 27 hour World Record for continuous pinball playing in October 2016.

Wayne, a Theatre Equipment Manager at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, wanted to do something that would catch people’s attention and get them talking about prostate cancer as his father Bill suffers from the condition.

And patients like Michael Walker are benefitting from his efforts as the ultrasound abdominal probe that was purchased using the money raised through the trust’s Well Wishers charity helped diagnose a potentially fatal blockage of the kidney from prostate cancer.

Mr Walker is under the care of  Mr Suresh Ganta, the Trust’s Consultant Urologist Surgeon.

Mr Ganta explained: “Prostate cancer is one of the commonest cancers in men and it may progress to involve the bones and lymph nodes when it has spread outside the prostate.

“One of the ways that prostate cancer may progress is by blocking the kidneys and causing renal failure. This can be fatal if undiagnosed and not treated appropriately. We were fortunate to have the ultrasound scan to help identify a dilated kidney in Mr Walker and have this drained and treated rapidly. This has no doubt has resulted in an excellent outcome for Mr Walker.”

He added: “We can also use this probe to monitor progress and to intervene by inserting a drain into the kidney to bypass the obstruction (percutaneous nephrostomy) as was done for Mr Walker).

“We are so grateful to Wayne and others who helped raise the funds for this important equipment that will potentially save thousands of lives . Prostate cancer can be cured if treated in the early stages and early detection and diagnosis is key.”