My Family Connection

I am one of three cousins on my mother’s side who were all born in the same year, 1944. The other two were diagnosed with Prostate Cancer around 10 and 16 years before my diagnosis in early 2018. Although I had no discernible symptoms of Prostate Cancer, I was interested to know whether I was harbouring this disease due to the “familial” connection. I should note that where the familial connection is mentioned it usually refers to a father, or brothers. But in my case, now that I have been diagnosed with the disease it looks like a cousin relationship could be an indicator of being in an “at risk” category. As I write these words in late 2020 all three of us are still alive and in good health.

It is because of the familial connection that I “insisted” on having a PSA test, even though my GP felt that with no discernible symptoms, it was not necessary. Both of us received a shock when the diagnosis was confirmed.

When I had my diagnosis to hand I had difficulty in understanding the websites dedicated to this disease. Rather than tell me what kind of a “journey” I would have through the system and whether or not I would survive it, they seemed to focus on giving me “generic” information, and a great deal of it. There seemed to be a lot of “medical” facts in their offerings. Facts which were not useful to me.

My concern was simply what treatment would I receive and what my prospects for a cure were. I could not find answers to these fundamental questions.

However, once my holistic expert briefed me on the “actual” journey I would have and to be optimistic about its ability to deal with my problem, I was totally calm about the whole issue. The reality is that Prostate Cancer is the most survivable of all the “big” cancers. It is a slow growing cancer and a man can harbour it for up to 10-20 years without any symptoms. But his prospects are very good if he comes forward early. This is not a disease to fear unless it is allowed to go unchecked for too long. My Primer covers this aspect.

I thought about propagating his message through a website and friends, who knew what I was going through, universally urged me to do this.

Hence “prostatecancer2020vision.org” which is an upgrade of my original site  “prostatecanceroptimism.org”.

I hope it will assist any man who reads it to have a calm and optimistic journey with his Prostate Cancer.

In the meantime, if over 50 years of age, PLEASE track your PSA level. Like me, you may be ill but symptomless and glad you did it.

Prostate Cancer Research Institute

I live in Scotland, UK and I have found that it is very difficult to find websites, even those of the large UK Charities, that describe this cancer and its diagnosis and treatment in a way that gives the reader a clear understanding. I have found one website that I consider to be of the highest quality. This website is that of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI) that operates from Culver City in Los Angeles. You can reach their website here – here.

Most of the videos that I have on my site were produced by PCRI.

I strongly recommend this organisation as having the foremost practical information for anyone facing Prostate Cancer. And particularly if you desire to go beyond the information that I have on this site which I am keeping, where possible, to a minimum.