Did I Mention Early Screening is the Key?

Also in September 2004 there was a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. After interviewing over 67,000 men over the age of 65 it was determined that black men were 35% less likely than white men to be tested for PSA (prostate-specific antigen)

The fact is Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of death by cancer among men in the U.S. We black men are at a much higher risk of premature death caused by prostate cancer, so we are the group who should benefit the most from PSA screening.

There are myriad reasons why black men hesitate to get screened. We don’t have medical coverage insurance; we lack the personal finances to pay for tests; we don’t have or seek out the educational knowledge; medicaid is not always the answer because some of us do not qualify for assistance.

In 2004 the American Cancer Society estimated that nearly 30,000 men would die from the disease and that 230,000 cases of prostate cancer would be diagnosed. We are now five years down the road and the numbers are not much better.

Granted, the prostate cancer mortality rate for blacks has declined somewhat during the last ten years, but it is still more than double the rate for other races.

It has been noted that younger black men have begun to be diagnosed with the disease at a much earlier age, so the need for testing is even more of a necessity.

Maybe with the new administration in the White House the plight of the less fortunate will gain more attention.

Meanwhile there are clinics in most states that provide testing for free or for a nominal fee. I Googled ‘Free Prostate Cancer Screening’ and found Zero – The Project To End Prostate Cancer.

Check out this link. http://www.zerocancer.org/site/PageServer?pagename=drive_home.

I also found an excellent site today. This site caused me to go ahead and post this article. She provides a lot of good information and links to even more. http://www.a1prostatecancertips.com/

Hope this information helps.

Till next time,

To Good Health and Success, Live Well

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.net
support@createvitality.com

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“Is It Because I’m Black?” “Unnh……Yes … and No.”

All too often I read headlines like, “African-American men are more likely to get prostate cancer.” And it is usually followed by something like, “They are also more likely to die from the disease due to lack of proper screening.”

So there we have it. Problem, or rather Challenge, and Solution.

I heard it on the news again this morning as I was mulling over what to write about. Just a blurb, two seconds, but it stuck in my mind this time.

Lately mental images and thoughts keep returning to this, or a variation: ‘CK, You need to be writing about health issues specific to our community.’

My mental argument has been, ‘but it’s very uncomfortable for me to write about it, and besides my brothers and sisters don’t want to hear this, so they won’t bother to read my articles’, etc. Just excuses. Any excuse to not follow my first mind.

Grandma always demanded I follow my first mind, so here goes. In her honor, I’m giving it a shot, beginning with this article which hits close to home.

My Brothers, We Need To Be Screened

Even though we are the most at-risk demographic, we black men are significantly less likely to undergo prostate cancer screening until it’s too late.  Too late to spare us the pain and suffering of advanced prostate cancer.

Most likely someone close to us, a spouse, or loved one, will mention that we need to be tested for some uncomfortable probability; it doesn’t even have to be as serious as cancer and we immediately say something like, “I’m ok. There’s nothing wrong. I know how I feel. If something was wrong I’d know it.”

Unless they are persistent the moment will pass and we’ll get on with our life. We know we should get tested, we think about it briefly, put it on the back-burner and move on, content with the knowledge that we will ‘get around to it.’

While writing this article, just now, I bounced it off my wife and she immediately leaped on the opportunity. “Yeah, YOU need to go get tested. You need to do it annually. That’s why they have testing honey. So when are you going to set the appointment?”

I kid you not. That’s the conversation that just went down. Whoa! That was a ‘can of worms’ best left unopened. I just got ‘test jacked’, followed up with ‘honey.’ Now I have to get tested, live the life I write.

I’ve lost friends and relatives to cancer and a few specifically to prostate cancer. In every case they were not diagnosed until the cancer had advanced.

Yet Another Study 

September 27, 2004 — Although black men in the United States are more likely than white men to be diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and have a two-fold greater risk of dying from it, they are significantly less likely to be screened for prostate cancer, according to a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital study.

Again Early Screening is the key

Success Is A LifeStyle, Live Well

CK Dillon

http://LiquidVitaminsOnline.Net

Support@CreateVitality.Com

See Part 2: Screening is The Key…

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