O’s fan Doug Harper will be special guest at the League Two match after beating male breast cancer

Leyton Orient and Leyton Orient Trust will be supporting Cancer Research UK to help raise awareness of cancer this weekend.

Every day, 86 people are diagnosed with cancer in London and half of them will not beat their disease.

On Saturday, ahead of facing Crewe Alexandra in League Two, the O’s will be joined pre game by volunteers from Cancer Research UK who will be raising money and sharing information around the work they do to help #StandUpToCancer.

There are more than 200 different types of cancer that can affect both men and women.

On Saturday the club will welcome Orient fan and cancer survivor Doug Harper to the game as a special guest who beat male breast cancer despite not being aware men could get that type of cancer.

“Three days before my 50th birthday on 12 January 2012, I joined a group that is rather exclusive,” Harper told the official club website.

“I became only one in 300 men that year in the UK to be diagnosed with breast cancer. I have lost count of the amount of people that have said the words I did not know that men could get breast cancer.”

“As I was unaware of male breast cancer, I thought that the lump on my nipple was a cyst. Thankfully my partner convinced me that I should go and see my GP.

“As soon as he saw it, he immediately contacted the hospital and I went for tests within days.

“I am cancer free now and long may that continue, but the reminder is still there thanks to tablets that I have taken since I was diagnosed and will take for at least another 18 months.

“Tamoxifen is an evil necessity. It supposedly stops breast cancer coming back, but at a cost.

“Among my side effects are fatigue, dizziness, memory loss and a massive lack of concentration. Still, I am alive and thank the NHS for that.”

If you would like to find out more information about breast cancer in men please visit: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/type/rare-cancers/rare-cancers-name/breast-cancer-in-men. If you would like to donate online to Cancer Research UK visit: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/donate.