A SELFLESS father who launched his own charity to fund free prostate cancer screenings after twice being misdiagnosed has lost his battle with the condition.

Kevin Logan, from Priory Vale, succumbed to cancer just before Christmas at the age of 57, just 18 months after being diagnosed with the disease.

The avid Swindon Rugby Club supporter and dedicated Freemason was admitted to hospital with a chest infection on December 18. Despite their best efforts doctors were unable to save him. He was transferred to Prospect Hospice on December 22.

The father of Georgina, Jo and Charley was misdiagnosed twice as having kidney stones when he started complaining of crippling abdominal pain moving down his groin - 18 months later, in June 2015, he was given the devastating diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer.

It was already too late.

He had originally been given between two and five years to live but only survived long enough to see his grandson Peyton arrive in the world in July.

Determined to spare others’ lives, he set up the Loganberry Trust to deliver free prostate cancer screenings across the region and put an end to preventable deaths each year.

Des Morgan, a friend and fellow Loganberry trustee, said: “Back in May 2016 Kevin said, ‘Your life just goes on hold and it is almost in freeze frame when you get diagnosed with any cancer.

"Sadly, Kevin's cancer spread quickly to his spine and shoulder and in the last few weeks had found its way to his liver.

"Kevin had worked tirelessly during the past year to ensure The Loganberry Trust has a long term future and his partner Viv and I intend to continue Kevin's dream as a legacy to his memory.”

Philip Bullock, the head of Freemasonry in Wiltshire, also paid homage to Kevin’s tireless work to offer life-saving screenings and spare countless families unnecessary pain.

“I am so incredibly proud to have known Kevin, he was an inspirational man with so much talent, energy and compassion,” he said.

“It is so difficult to comprehend the fact that at such a young age he has been taken by this dreadful disease. He did so much to highlight the importance of testing for prostate cancer."

FACTFILE

* Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men.

* More than 47,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in the UK – that's 130 men every day.

* Every hour one man dies from prostate cancer – that's more than 10,800 every year.

* One in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime.

* More than 330,000 men are living with and after prostate cancer.

* The causes of prostate cancer are largely unknown.

* Tell-tale symptoms include: needing to urinate more often than usual, difficulty starting to urinate, straining or taking a long time to finish urinating, a feeling that you’re not emptying your bladder fully.

* The chances of developing prostate cancer increase with age. Most cases develop in men aged 50 or older.