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Not long ago, at the age of 47, I received a phone call from the Harvard Institute of Medicine's Prostate Cancer Research Center, which is
housed in Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, telling me that their tests have confirmed that I have prostate cancer and
that it has spread to my hip, pelvis and spine. When I asked the doctor, "How much time do I have?", he said,
"You may have 2 months to maybe 24 months" depending upon how my body reacted to certain hormone treatments he wanted
to try on me.
Not having had any real symptoms of cancer, and not really knowing what a prostate was, my wife and I couldn't believe what we were hearing.
So we began the second opinion routine. Second opinions are supposed to make you feel better because you are supposed to get better answers,
right?
Well, I asked the doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital if I could squeeze 5 years out of this. I had two sons going to college
and my job was going big - I was executive vice president of 7 non-profits and president of the for-profit that managed all of them.
All I was asking him for was 60 months. But the doctor said, with laughter in his voice as if I had asked him a stupid question,
"Now, that would be outrageously optimistic!" Then he added, "Beth Israel gave you 24 months? No, it will be more like 18."
That was pretty much the same answer we got from Boston's Dana Farber Cancer Institute and New York City's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital confirmed my biopsies and my medical report was sent to Cornell University's Weill
Medical College in New York's Presbyterian Hospital, Houston's M. D. Anderson Cancer Research Institute and Baltimore's Johns
Hopkins - none of whom replied with any different or encouraging results.
So I asked the doctors, "What kills your patients?", in other words, "What is my future?" They all pretty much agreed that
it is not the cancer that kills their patients; it is the effect pain has on the heart, the immune system and appetite.
And if that does not do it, the effect of the pain-killers on my body will. The doctors expect that due to the aggressiveness
of my tumors, what they call "wild cell" or "fast cell", they estimate that at anytime now the tumors in
my bones will grow and begin pressing against nerves. That will begin my last months on this earth which will be spent in
some form of pain management, palliative care.
My family and I were shocked to learn that prostate cancer is a most curable form of cancer when
detected early yet no one bothered to tell me about it or test me for this known killer of men
during all the times they took my blood early on when this disease could have been unearthed,
detected, dealt with and forgotten about. The cost of the blood test that could have saved me
perhaps as early as 8 years ago was $35.00. Had that been done I would not be here for the
purpose that has brought us together - to bring you this message, a message that has been delivered
to more than 20,000 people world-wide so far, a message that is changing and saving lives.
Here is the reason why I asked to speak with you today. Having the luxury of looking back a few years I
can identify certain medical procedures that could have, that should have saved my life. Perhaps my story might help
you or someone you know.
Over the past 10 years or so I, like many of you here today, have had blood tests taken during annual physicals and for
the usual ailments we get as we go through our 30's and 40's. But because I answered "no" when the doctors asked if I had
cancer in my family, and because I was under 50 years old, they never felt there was a need to check me for prostate cancer.
You see, while I was going through several years of blood work no one ever told me that prostate cancer is considered a killing
epidemic in men. No one told me that
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Prostate cancer is now among the most common type of cancers diagnosed in men next to skin cancer. Of
all men who are diagnosed with any kind of cancer this year, 30% of them will be told they have prostate
cancer - approximately 230,000 new cases each year.
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It is a leading cause of cancer death in men. Some researchers say it shares the #2 spot with colorectol
cancer, exceeded only by lung cancer, although a March 17, 2004 New York Times article already named it the
#2 killer. With the success of the current anti-smoking campaign in adults, the increase in the use of
colonoscopies to detect colon cancer and the rise in prostate cancer, researchers feel prostate cancer will
soon be the #1 cause of cancer death in men. Nearly 40,000 American men will die from prostate cancer this year.
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One out of six American men will be struck with it.
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Autopsy studies are showing that 1 out of 4 men 30 years old appear to harbor a small focus of prostate
cancer in their glands and by the age of 50, 1 out of 3 men will posses clearly identifiable microscopic
prostate cancer cells, and
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By the time I finish this talk one man will die from it (one death every 15 minutes).
During these talks I am often asked, "Why don't they test for prostate cancer more often than they do?"
The answer apparently lies in the fact that many in the medical field today are still operating upon risk factors
that were prevalent a decade ago because research has not given them the tools to handle this new epidemic of the
21st century. Here are three popular risk factors.
Age: Years ago it was thought that simply growing older increased a man's risk of developing
this disease. It was a common malady in men over the age of 65 when prostate cancer is a slower growing
disease. For that reason it was not treated aggressively, most especially if the man did not have a life
expectancy of 10 years or more.
This is not so today. This cancer is increasingly reaching younger men at an age when their insurance companies
might not pay for the PSA, the Prostate Specific Antigen blood test. Yet, perhaps because a younger man's
metabolism is faster and testosterone level is higher, this disease is referred to as "fast cell"
or "wild cell" and can grow and spread at a much faster pace than in older men.
Family History: It was thought that the risk is more than 10 times higher for men who have one
relative with the disease, 50 times higher for those with two relatives with the disease. But because many
older men will die with this disease than of it, we really dont know what our family history truly is.
Also, this disease seems to be breaking the traditional familial ties and researchers are now looking into
several environmental causes such as fertilizers and pesticides in our food, water and environment.
Race: This is a most disturbing risk factor. It has been known for quite some time that
African-American men have the worlds highest incidence of prostate cancer, a third higher than white Americans
with a death rate of more than double. Researchers have known for years that African-American men are more
likely to develop prostate cancer at an earlier age and to have the aggressive, fast growing tumors.
Are these the reasons why research into accurately detecting this disease at an earlier stage is not more
advanced today? Although prostate cancer is among the most curable cancers when caught at an early stage,
are our men dying today because not long ago this disease was thought to primarily effect populations of men
who did not attract aggressive research funding?
I dont know. I just know that in the year I was diagnosed AIDS research (albeit very important research)
received $1.7 billion in federal research funds, breast cancer research received $750 million and prostate
cancer research received $335 million. Only 5% of federal cancer research dollars are devoted to beating this
disease and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has cut $2.5 million from its $3 million prostate cancer research
funding from the state budget.
My message to our men is simple.
1. Do not miss your annual physical exam. And if you think prostate cancer is not that common, write the
word "prostate" on your calendar today and ask those you meet with this week if they know anybody
with prostate cancer. You will be shocked at your results. Then ask them how old are those people and you
will learn that this is no longer an older mans disease. The youngest person I have spoken to who had
prostate cancer surgery is 38 and the youngest person with an elevated PSA I have spoken to is 33.
2. Insist on the PSA blood test. Do not settle for the digital exam only. Although somewhat accurate on its own,
my tumors may have gone undetected by the doctors finger for several years.
3. Don't let the doctors rely on your family history. We don't even know what our family history is. Only
recently I found out that several years ago I had an uncle die of the same disease that is killing me today -
prostate cancer in the bone. I never knew I had cancer in my family.
4. Let me know of any other groups I can bring this message.
Information Sources
Prostate Cancer Research Fund, Harvard Institute of Medicine, c/o Dr. Glenn Bubley, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, HIM 1047, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, 617-667-5288.
"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Prostate Cancer" by Dr. Glenn Bubley, published by Time Warner and available through Amazon.
National Cancer Institute Publication, What You Need To Know About Prostate Cancer, www.cancernet.nci.nih.gov. Mail: National Cancer Institute, Office of Communications, 31 Center Drive, MSC 2580, Bethesda, MD 20892-2580, 800-422-6237
Prostate Cancer Education Council, Prostate Cancer Info: www.comed.com
www.oncology.com
www.prostatepointer.org
www.malehealthcenter.com
Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Prostate Cancer Awareness Program, 617-624-5070
American Cancer Society, 800-227-2345, www.cancer.org
National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Services, 800-422-6237
Massachusetts Prostate Cancer Support Network, 781-843-2211
Dana Farber Partners Cancer Care, Prostate Cancer Awareness Program, 800-320-0022.
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