Early test might have caught his cancer
Voice of Our Place battling disease two years after he was denied blood screen. ‘I’m sure I’ll come through this’
Our Place spokesman Grant McKenzie is battling prostate cancer two years after he was denied a blood test he feels might have caught it early.
“I’m sure I’ll come through this,” McKenzie said.
“I’d rather see the system change to help other people rather than be concerned about what will happen to me.”
A Scot who came to Canada at age 13 and moved to Victoria with his wife of 31 years via Calgary and Gibsons in 2010, McKenzie says he was denied the PSA test by the province at age 53 because he had no symptoms, family history or high-risk indicators.
At the time, McKenzie was not informed the test could be done privately for about $35. This year, at age 55, McKenzie was eligible for the test.
His PSA numbers were 24 on a scale on which below 3 is ideal. He has been diagnosed with Stage 3 prostate cancer.
The Health Ministry doesn’t pay for a PSA outside certain criteria. The Canadian Task Force on Preventative Health Care does not recommend it, saying the PSA test yields a high rate of false-positive results, especially for men under 55.
The province does insure a standard digital rectal examination, recommended annually in fit men 50 to 70 years of age.
However, a physical exam by the doctor did not find the tumour, McKenzie said.
“A family doctor is a generalist and they don’t notice anything — cancer wise — unless it’s a really advanced, if they can feel a tumour or lump, but by that time it’s really advanced. I had that physical exam and they thought everything was fine.”
The Canadian Cancer Society recommends a PSA test combined with a digital rectal exam to increase the chance of finding prostate cancer early, when it is easier to treat.
A urologist did a rectal exam for McKenzie and found a lump. A biopsy, which is the only way to confirm prostate cancer, was then done.
McKenzie said of 14 samples taken, all came back with a result of cancer.
Health Ministry spokesman Stephen May said in an email that PSA testing is publicly insured for men for monitoring of established disease, detection of early recurrence of disease, or those suspected of having prostate cancer due to signs or symptoms of disease.
“I think they are looking at the bottom line because most urologists I talk to would much rather men get a PSA than not,” McKenzie said.
“They are saying the odds are that most men will likely be fine, but to the rest of us who aren’t fine, they’re saying we’re collateral damage on a spreadsheet.”
McKenzie is optimistic that he will be cancer-free following a radical prostatectomy — which removes the prostate and some seminal vessels around it — scheduled for Nov. 6.
The man who has regarded it as a privilege over the past decade to work at Our Place, which provides services for Greater Victoria’s marginalized citizens, is adding his voice to advocacy for annual physical exams and PSA tests.
“Now I get a PSA every month,” he said.
Doctors of B.C. president Dr. Eric Cadesky says annual physicals are not of value and instead doctors do personalized “periodic health examinations” so that people are reassessed and checked according to their personal characteristics. Doctors do preventative work and don’t see patients only when they are sick, he noted.
May, the Health Ministry spokesman, said routine physical exams have historically not been covered by the Medical Services Plan.
McKenzie said many men tend not to see a physician unless there’s a significant problem and that early detection via checkups would save the health-care system money.
“I think it’s very important that the province doesn’t look at the accountant’s spreadsheet, but actually talks to doctors to see how important this annual physical is.”
> Grant McKenzie, ever upbeat, gives advice to those who might face cancer, C3