Men - get over your ego, get over your embarrassment, and get the test.
That message may hit below the belt, but if it can save a few men from dying from prostate cancer, then Kirk McLean will keep on saying it. "It's a guy thing," the former Vancouver Canucks goaltender says of men's reluctance to get the prostate exam. "You don't want anything tickled or played around with down there." The numbers have convinced him that the few seconds of awkwardness are worth it: one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer but, if it's caught early, 90 per cent of them will survive.
"It really is 'get over it,'" North Van's Bob Lenarduzzi tells men who let the momentary embarrassment prevent them from being screened for the disease. "You're worried about how it's perceived rather than having a long life." He's got a powerful reason for speaking out: his father died of prostate cancer 19 years ago after a seven-year battle. "I saw first-hand the devastation," says the president of the Vancouver Whitecaps. "It's down to the individual (to get tested). If you want to tempt fate, you're not giving yourself the best chance."
The two Vancouver sports icons joined Vancouver Canadians broadcaster Rob Fai, former B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal and B.C. Chamber of Commerce president John Winter at the local launch of Wear Plaid for Dad, a new nation-wide fundraising initiative for Prostate Cancer Canada, at Robson Square on June 5. Why is it, asks Prostate Cancer Canada president Rocco Rossi, that men think they can beat the one-in-a-million odds of winning a lottery but don't think they'll be the one who becomes the one-in-eight statistic?
As Fai said, one-in-eight "is a statistic that in baseball gets you a release." Twenty years ago, 6,500 Canadian men died of the disease every year. Thanks to donations for research and treatments, that number is down to 4,000, Rossi says. That means that, "there are 2,500 dads, sons, husbands, co-workers who will be celebrating Father's Day this year thanks to donors. That's 2,500 men alive this year, next year and the year after."
Wear Plaid for Dad is a workplace fundraising campaign that sees teams raise money by Father's Day. Everyone celebrates - and helps spread the message about the need for screening - by wearing plaid on Friday, June 19. The vice-admiral of the Canadian navy, the premier of Nova Scotia and the mayor of Toronto have issued challenges to their counterparts to Wear Plaid For Dad. Lenarduzzi and Fai joined the chorus, calling on their teams' fans to get involved.
Earlier this spring, the Task Force on Preventative Health Care said there was no evidence that PSA screening - a blood test that raises red flags if there's a spike in the indicators that something may be wrong - reduced mortality rates.
John Winter, the CEO of the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, says that he wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the fact he was lucky enough to work for an employer who required that he be tested every year. As a result, after tracking his benchmark PSA numbers for 30 years, when a test revealed that they were high, he was able to catch the cancer early and undergo treatments right away.
Wally Oppal's prostate cancer was detected after "that god-awful digital test that we all hate." When a biopsy revealed cancer, he had it treated and today, all of his PSA tests are fine. "That's what can happen when you have early detection, but you can only have early detection if you take the time. I know how men hate that but I'm urging all of you to do it, if not for yourselves but for your families."
Visit wearplaidfordad.ca to sign up your workplace or make a personal pledge as a Father's Day gift. Bayer Canada is donating $8 for every pledge.
