HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — Don't fear the finger! That's the message from Urology of Virginia concerning physical exams for prostate cancer, also known as digital rectal exams. That's what first alerted me that I might have prostate cancer. My urologist, Dr. John Liu detected an irregularity on my prostate and ordered a biopsy!
That's what I was going through this past December at Urology of Virginia, as I was lying on a patient bed, listening to these words from Dr. Liu, who was using an ultrasound probe, "I'll have a real-time picture the entire time so the picture allows me to know where the needle's going to—- the clicking sound is the needle gun firing."
News
Kurt Williams takes next step in prostate cancer journey
And hearing this a few days later from Dr. Liu, "Well Kurt unfortunately we did find, you know, a few areas of prostate cancer."
My dad Emanuel Williams, who's now 92, heard the same news about 30 years ago, "The biopsy is malignant and therefore you should have some type of treatment for it."
Having a father or brother with prostate cancer, more than doubles a man's risk of getting it, according to the American Cancer Society. But the organization adds, most prostate cancers occur in men without a family history. One thing is clear, according to the National Institutes of Health, African-American men have a 60% higher rate of getting prostate cancer than white men, that's the highest rate for it in the U.S.
Web exclusive
I asked oncologist, Dr. Christopher Sinesi, the Medical Director of the Hampton Proton Therapy Institute is there any understanding why African American men get prostate cancer at such a high rate? "It's a complex multi-factorial problem that we don't have a good handle on, if we could get a good handle on that, I think that would be the first step toward preventing it."
Prostate cancer---has recently captured the headlines with two prominent African-American men, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin going public, "I was being treated for prostate cancer. The news shook me and I know that it shakes so many others, especially in the black community."
And then the news of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s youngest son--Dexter King, who died last month from the disease. It was a recent topic of discussion on a Sunday morning at Grove Church in Portsmouth, where Dr. Melvin Marriner is the senior pastor, "And so it's important to me to push these men to be vulnerable enough to go and get checked out."
Health
Kurt Williams gives glimpse behind the curtain with prostate cancer diagnosis
On that Sunday morning he stressed to the men in the congregation--- that includes the physical exam, "Manually!! Ok ya'll know what that means, right?"
Once a year, he has doctors do physical screenings at his church. And he shared with his members his experience during a recent healthcare visit, "I left one doctor because they wouldn't do it because they thought I was healthy enough, so I found me another doctor who said I don't care how healthy you look."
He had a purpose for stressing his getting the physical exam of his prostate, which is through a digital rectal exam, "Because for us as men having that exam physically done, sometimes can be dehumanizing, emasculating if you will, and so I wanted them to know that it's important that we put ourselves even in those vulnerable moments so I shared my story to hopefully make them more comfortable and getting this exam done."
Sharing personal stories is what you can find at a support group meeting at the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute, involving former prostate cancer patients, like Thomas Jones, revealing how his story began, "And the doctor found a roughness on my prostate so that started the journey right there."
The person who started this institute, former Hampton University President, Dr. William Harvey, is passionate that men have to be intentional about their care, starting with that physical exam. "Because when they do the rectal examination they can feel if you got lumps on your prostate or anything like that, that's what a good doctor will do. People probably don't like anybody doing that but if it's going to save your life for the 20 seconds they're doing that---do it! Do it!"
That too, was Dr. Marriner's message to his congregation, "I'm asking you brothers, I'm begging you brothers put your ego aside." I asked him, why he phrased it like that from the pulpit, "Because egos are fear and fear is a part of our ego, pride system and so when we allow ourselves to be fearful of something----- pride takes over."
This is personal for Dr. Marriner; he lost his dad to prostate cancer. "They scheduled surgery and they opened him up and saw that it was too far gone. And seeing my father this giant of a man in both heart and purpose dwindle down where he could not even bathe himself. I saw him suffer because of prostate cancer!"
Dr. Marriner doesn't want any of his members—-anyone who can hear his voice to go through that, "And you don't have to die from it if you get early detection. I would say to the men, love life enough, love your family enough, love yourself enough to be vulnerable enough to get this test done, because you're telling the world your life is worth saving."
