A bionic OAP is back to his karate black belt best at the grand age of 68 despite just recovering from cancer and having two replacements hips.
Bernard Taylor, is back to full health kicking, punching and karate chopping his way through the gym despite his former ailments which included prostate cancer.
Nicknamed The Bull by his karate mates, he attends Colne Valley Black Belt Academy in his home town of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
‘It’s brilliant,’ he said. ‘I had one hip done, then I had treatment for the prostate, then I had the other hip replaced.
‘Now I’m back fighting, kicking and running around like a lunatic.
‘The younger lads can’t believe it.
‘I can still do everything – but the super power kicks maybe aren’t quite as hard and the flying kicks aren’t as high as they once were.
‘Doctors have told me I need to take it easy but I just love teaching the kids. I’ve probably got 250 pupils.’
The married father-of-two puts his rapid recovery down to his karate and general fitness levels.
‘I was never worried once,’ said Bernard. ‘I took it all in my stride and just got on with it.
‘Karate is about positive thinking and it instills discipline.’
Mr Taylor only took up karate when he took his children Leanne and Scott along for lessons.
Leanne secretly filled in the forms for her dad and he ended up joining too at the age of 42.
Mr Taylor, who had been sporty in his younger days, never looked back and quickly rose through the ranks, achieving his black belt aged 47.
Three years later he won the Martial Arts Illustrated magazine’s British Championship.
It was about four years ago that Bernard started feeling pain in his hips.
True to form he battled through the pain barrier, thinking it was a pulled muscle.
Eventually his wife persuaded him to go to the doctor’s and arthritic spurs were found on his hip joints, which could only be solved by replacements.
Shortly afterwards discovering his hip problem he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Mr Taylor said: ‘For me it was ‘okey dokey, let’s get on with it’. I wasn’t too bothered. It was my family who felt it most.’
Mr Taylor then had surgery on his right hip before embarking on treatment for his prostate.
He decided against an operation to remove the prostate and opted for three months of hormone therapy followed by radiotherapy.
Mr Taylor had to wait up to six months for the radiotherapy to leave his system before he could have the left hip done.
He went into hospital in August 2011 and again his rate of recovery amazed medical staff.
‘Now I’m back on top form,’ he said. One of the students brought a lump to my throat the other week when he made some comments on Facebook about this 68-year-old guy running up and down like a young ‘un. He said I must be a bionic man.’
Mr Taylorsaid he wanted all men over 45 to get themselves checked for prostate cancer.
‘It’s a simple blood test and all men should do it,’ he said. ‘I had no symptoms and only found out by accident.
‘An early diagnosis can save your life.’
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