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Profiles In Courage
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St Petersburg Times, St Petersburg
Florida
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
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Susan Aschoff
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Copyright Times Publishing Co. May 28, 2002 |
More than 1-million American men are living with
prostate cancer. Millions more have never been screened for the disease,
which is second only to lung cancer in cancer fatalities among men.
The good news is that a simple blood test (called
PSA) and physical exam can provide a timely warning. The bad news? If
prostate cancer is found, a man must choose from a confusing array of
treatments with potentially serious side effects and no guarantees.
Surgery. Radiation. Even doing nothing at all.
In this highly personal battle to live and live well,
the only unanimous weapon of choice is knowledge, the kind that comes
from talking about one's most intimate physiology. And fears.
RICHARD BROWN
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Psychologist
Counsels other men with prostate cancer
Tampa
Age: 54.
Diagnosed: Age 49, detected in annual PSA test. No
symptoms.
Risk factors: Father had gastrointestinal cancer; no
known prostate cancer in family.
Treatment: Cancer advanced when discovered. Surgery
to remove prostate, radiation.
Current status: Takes hormones. Cancer has spread to
chest and lymph nodes.
What he learned: "One of the things that drives guys
nuts is there are no easy answers.
Cure is not a word I'm using. The
gift embedded in cancer is that you can lead a gentler life, you can
open your heart up more."
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JIM WEST
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Manufacturing technician at Jabil Circuit
Coordinates prostate cancer support groups, gives
speeches, lobbies for funding
St. Petersburg
Age: 65.
Diagnosed: Age 60, after experiencing difficulty
urinating, back and thigh pain.
Risk factors: African-American; younger brother with
prostate cancer.
Treatment: Surgery to remove prostate.
Current status: PSA levels slowly increasing.
What he learned: "I ask men, 'Where's your prostate?'
They say, 'What's that?' There are people who are consumed with fear.
There are men who have been treated and their families don't know. It's
time that we as men take control of our health."
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MELVIN SHINE
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Retired maintenance worker
Pinellas Park
Age: 74.
Diagnosed: Age 64, in his first PSA test.
Risk factors: Father died of prostate cancer at age
69.
Treatment: Surgery to remove prostate; hormone pills
and injections.
Current status: Incontinence and loss of bowel
control; after 11 years of good numbers, PSA levels climbing, indicating
spreading cancer.
What he learned: "I was healthy as a horse. I've
always been of the belief that the farther away you stay from doctors
the better. I still feel that way. I've learned that cancer is not a
sentence. It's just a word."
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JUAN TORRES
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Design engineer for city of Tampa
Tampa
Age: 56.
Diagnosed: Age 54, during a checkup as a kidney
cancer survivor.
Risk factors: None known.
Treatment: Cancer found outside prostate. Radiation
and seed implants, hormone injections, low-fat diet.
Current status: PSA level below 1 (0-4 is considered
a good result).
What he learned: "We have a saying: I'm going to die
with prostate cancer, not from prostate cancer. You must learn how to
deal with it. It's not only about your health. It's your family."
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TOM WHIPPLE
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Private investor
Belleair Beach
Age: 57.
Diagnosed: Age 56, detected in biopsy after PSA
number slightly elevated.
Risk factors: Adopted, but later found siblings,
including older brother with advanced prostate cancer.
Treatment: Surgery to remove prostate.
Current status: Normal PSA levels; short-lived,
postoperative incontinence and impotency.
What he learned: "I was assured everything would
be fine, and it was not. There were no warning signs.
If I hadn't had the PSA, I wouldn't have known. Get the test result
every year and write it down.
Track your own levels."
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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