Prostate test caught senior’s cancer in time

Re: “Annual prostate-cancer screening has little benefit,” opinion, Sept. 6.

I probably would not be in the relatively good condition I am in, at 87 years, had my family doctor not been an advocate of testing for prostate cancer.

Each year from about 30 to 40, I paid for an annual physical exam. When I advanced into my 40s, the doctor was keen on me having PSA testing because he found that my PSA numbers were starting to climb.

Eventually, finding no cancer indicated by his physical exam, he referred me to a urologist. The urologist invited me to take part in a fouryear blind test of a new drug coming onto the market specifically to combat prostate cancer.

Included in the study was the requirement for a prostate biopsy each year.

At the end of the test period, there was still no solid evidence of cancer. However, a year after being on the study, I got an alarming phone call from the urologist recommending one more biopsy.

It showed evidence of cancer, very small, but of an extremely aggressive variety. After 38 visits to the cancer clinic for the painless radiation, it was determined that I was cancerfree.

This Saturday, at the Tillicum Mall, there will be a Men’s Health Day group of volunteers who will provide free PSA blood testing aimed at men 40 and over.

Maybe the test will not prove 100 per cent that a man does or does not have prostate cancer, but for a little of one’s time, it is certainly well worth the effort. David Smith Victoria