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  • Practical Boat Owner

    Made of mettle

    Oct 03, 2019 7 minutes

    Late in 2015, just as James Oakley was finishing the hull of his home-built aluminium speedboat, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

    “I’d been to see my doctor for something minor when the nurse advised me to have a blood test,” he recalls. “This indicated an abnormally high reading of PSA and I was recommended to have a biopsy.”

    James was advised there was a tiny chance of infection, but what he didn’t anticipate was being woken three nights in a row, delirious with acute sepsis. After specialist treatment in a local hospital to deal with the infection, he chose to have surgery, but doctors warned he might not make it to Christmas.

    “While it was devastating news I just wanted to have the operation as soon as possible so I could continue working on the boat,” says James. “The situation was extreme, but I just wanted to get to continue on with my plans.’

    Fortunately, the operation was a success and James began the period of recuperation, which caused him to look at life differently.

    “The boat gave me a focus; something to concentrate my

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