PROSTATE
CANCER: TOUGH LOVE FOR A TOUGH DISEASE
Almost half a million men in the United States have Prostate Cancer
and this year, 30,000 of them will die from it. These deaths
are especially tragic because Prostate Cancer is one of the easiest
cancers to detect. Early testing is the key to curing or
controlling Prostate Cancer, but large numbers of African American
men have been reluctant to step forward for testing because of
fear, embarrassment or uncertainty about the unknown. Whatever
the reasons, the African American community must become an activist
community to protect and lengthen the lives of its men against
this killer disease because African American men are disproportionately
affected. That is, more African American men die from Prostate
Cancer than other ethnic or racial groups in the United States.
So, if you are a woman who is a wife or a sister or a daughter
or a friend of a Black man, exercise your activism by helping
to educate him about Prostate Cancer. And if you are a man
who is a husband, a son, a father or a friend of other Black men
or women, you owe a responsibility to yourself and those who love
and depend on you to fight the fear, the embarrassment and the
uncertainty. Your reward will be a long and healthy life
in the company of those who are most important to you.
I encourage men and women to address the issue of testing by making
a short mental comparison: Twenty minutes of mild discomfort
in your local doctor’s office versus a shortened life or
no life at all. I think reasonable people will agree, it’s
no contest.
The standard tests for Prostate Cancer are simple, widely available
and affordable. Initial screenings typically consist of
a blood test to screen for prostate specific antigen (PSA) –
an enzyme made by the prostate gland -- and a digital rectal exam
in which a gloved finger is inserted into the rectum to probe
for growths or lesions. It’s the latter test
that most men fear. Concerns that the test threatens a man’s
masculinity are misplaced and dangerous to one’s health.
Please be assured, your doctor treats hundreds of body parts on
a typical day. Yours are just some among many. The
real embarrassment will occur when a positive diagnosis of advanced
Prostate Cancer is made and the realization sets in that the tragic
diagnosis could have been avoided.
Don’t allow yourself or those you love to fall prey to the
death trap that awaits those who avoid early Prostate Cancer testing.
African American men 45 or older should test annually. If
a family history of Prostate Cancer exists, annual testing should
begin at age 40.
September is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, but every
day should be a day of awareness and concern for us and our loved
ones. Learn about Prostate Cancer and take steps to avoid
its consequences in your life. Click on the American Cancer
Society website at www.acs.org for more information.
Always visit www.blackhealthnow.com
for more important news about your health. |
