Time for more Prostate Cancer awareness
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014 after an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) found during my annual physical. Although I have spent my entire life in healthcare, receiving the diagnosis was devastating. It was especially devastating because we lost my brother-in-law to prostate cancer not long before.
As I started expanding my knowledge about prostate cancer, I asked the doctors and my church about support groups. I was surprised to learn that they didn’t know of any. I talked to as many men as I could that were impacted by prostate cancer to learn from their experiences.
Seeing the lack of knowledge
Most of the men I tried to talk with didn’t want to talk about the disease or were hesitant to be completely open with me. It was in stark contrast to women and how they are willing to talk about their experiences as well as how prevalent breast cancer initiatives are.
I learned as much as I could about prostate cancer, and I ended up with four opinions before my final decision. Dr. Dave Penson at Vanderbilt Medical Center recommended re-evaluating my labs and biopsy slides and after more diagnostics, I decided to have a robotic prostatectomy in 2015.
The prostatectomy was a success, and my PSA remains undetectable to this day. My surgery and recovery went so well that I was able to do a 65-mile cycling event eight weeks post op. My outcomes show the importance of men talking to their doctors and knowing your PSA number. Men should also know their family history and be informed about prostate cancer treatment.
Doing more for the conversation
Due to lack of men’s support groups for prostate cancer and the stigma that most men face, I decided that I wanted to do something to help men deal with this disease. I looked for others that were passionate about making a difference for men and their families affected by this disease.
I met Dr. Flora Ukoli and Dr. Kelvin Moses who are both champions of defeating prostate cancer. I later met Dan Mccollum who founded the Prostate Cancer Coalition of Tennessee (PCCTN). Together we revitalized PCCTN by building a website (www.pcctn.org ), starting a regular monthly support group meeting, adding more members, working with other community organizations, and continuing to increase awareness about prostate cancer.
We are excited that Gov. Bill Lee has proclaimed September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month to raise awareness and better educate Tennesseans about the disease.
Last year, there were nearly 165,000 new cases of prostate cancer nationwide with 2,750 of those in Tennessee. Nearly 30,000 people died in America from prostate cancer and 600 across the state.
It is important that we talk about this disease and change the stereotype about it. We need to learn all we can, increase funding for prostate cancer research, get involved with community activities to raise awareness about the disease, and do all we can to support men and their families dealing with it.
Ira Baxter lives in Nashville and is the executive director of the Prostate Cancer Coalition of Tennessee.