Tony Xiriha says he has been shocked by the support of the harness racing community which has dug deep to help his fight against prostate cancer.

The 56-year-old trainer-driver will have surgery on Thursday to remove as much of the cancer as possible, but faces further treatment and significant time away from the sport he loves.

A GoFundMe page has been established by the Conroy family, which has already raised more than $15,000 for the Kyneton-based horseman.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Xiriha said.

“I didn’t expect anybody to contribute anything. I was in shock.

“I really wasn’t expecting anywhere near the amount of money that went into the fund.

“I’ve made donations to other people before, but never thought anything of it. But when it came the other way around, you really do appreciate it. I can’t believe that people would put that sort of money in.”

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Xiriha, who has trained and driven over 200 winners in his long career, said the path to discovering he had prostate cancer started with the medical to renew his harness racing driver’s licence.

“The doctor that I normally see, I couldn’t see him, so I had to see another doctor. He said that because of my age, he might just take a blood test and do a few other tests,” Xiriha recalled.

“I showed no symptoms of anything and I didn’t expect anything when he wanted to do the tests. I thought it was a bit of a waste of time, but luckily I did go see that doctor because I think my normal doctor would have just blasted through.”

Xiriha said he had been advised to keep a close check on his abnormal blood test results with a family history of the disease through his father. These tests eventually showed some serious signs and it was confirmed that a prostate tumor – which Xiriha has known about since late last year - was cancerous.

Xiriha has turned many of his horses out to other trainers, but some will remain in work with his son Ben taking responsibility for looking after them while he overcomes surgery.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, with Harness Racing Victoria pledging $500 to Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia for every winning drive by John Caldow and Mick Stanley.

All funds raised will help prostate cancer research, awareness and support.

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