However, that didn't stop

Ingleburn Quota Club recently handing $15,000 to the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand for research into the men's illness.

Lawrence Hayden, of Macarthur Urology, said the same number of men die each year of prostate cancer as women with breast cancer.

``It's a serious health issue,'' Dr Hayden said.

``Because there's a blood test known as PSA, the prostate cancer can be diagnosed much earlier at a stage when it can be cured but the blood test alone is not enough it leads to more investigations such as a biopsy of the prostate, which is the most accurate way to diagnose the cancer.

``Men in our local community can benefit from increased awareness of the test to pick up prostate cancer a time when it can be cured but the money raised by the Quota Club will benefit research towards a cure.''

Club fund-raiser Tina Weatherley said they aimed to help the less fortunate. ``This year it was decided we'd raise money for men's health with our Golf Day, which started off for women but has grown into mainly a men's Golf Day,'' she said.

``When I asked about prostate cancer I learned about 2000 men die each year from this cancer.''