A man from Looe who is suffering from cancer has taken his campaign to the House of Commons.

Doug Gray, 62, who has advanced prostate cancer, joined former England rugby star Andy Ripley in launching a new charity campaign.

Andy is undergoing hormone therapy treatment, like Doug, and they want to ensure men with the disease are not 'left in the dark'.

The pair addressed MPs, peers and other guests at the launch of The Prostate Cancer Charity's report Hampered by Hormones?

Doug was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in February and has spoken out about how treatment has affected his sense of masculinity and his sex life. 'Treatment can be very embarrassing in the sense of breaking out in sweats, etc,' he said. 'My wife and I are now resigned to the fact that our sex life is effectively over and I'm disturbed by the fact that I may be losing my masculinity. I found it difficult to read the wealth of information about the disease in my condition. It's not enough to have written information – men need to be sat down and spoken to after the diagnosis and have everything explained to them.'

Each year in the UK 35,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK, and 9,000 of them will receive hormone therapy.

A national campaign by the Prostate Cancer Charity wants more information to be given to men about the disease and for men on treatment to be regularly assessed.

Doug's wife, Janice, 56, said: 'There is no ongoing support from any health professionals and the lack of a personal touch with people needs to be addressed.'

In the Commons, Doug spoke of the need to raise awareness of the effects of hormone therapy, which can cause erectile dysfunction, depression, hot flushes, breast swelling, tiredness and loss of confidence. The speech was well received by the MPs.