The annual Motorcycle Ride for Dad – one of province’s largest fundraisers for prostate cancer research – gets underway tomorrow morning.

Honourary chair Brian O’Connell was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014 and since then has been a vocal advocate for greater awareness of the disease.

He says his diagnosis came as a shock.

“I was completely symptom-free, I didn’t know I had anything going on, and it was my urologist who broke the news to me, and after that I had surgery, I had to have radiation and hormone therapy. I realized a lot of men don’t talk about prostate cancer.”

Nowadays the disease can be picked up early with a simple blood test. The earlier the disease is detected, the earlier it can be treated and the better the prognosis.

The annual Motorcycle Ride for Dad gets underway tomorrow with registration and an opening ceremony at Newfoundland Power on Kenmount Road starting at 8:00 a.m.