September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and to me, a PCa survivor, it means that men and their families ought to receive current factual information about this cancer that claims so many lives each year. “Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among U. S. men, accounting for 33 percent of all cancer cases in males” and approximately 28 thousand men in the U.S. will die from this disease this year (according to maine.gov).

Men have a right to know what is happening within their bodies and one way is to begin to track your PSA levels once you reach age 40. Though many think of prostate cancer as an “ old man’s disease,” the truth is that about one third of men diagnosed with PCa are younger than 65 and too many of my friends have been diagnosed in their fifties and even younger.

The problem is that we still can’t always tell which prostate cancers will become aggressive and which will not so it is important to get all the facts and never make a “fear based decision.” You surely do not want to risk overtreatment and the very difficult side effects that can occur.

Get the facts but do get tested. It’s your body and your decisions. Please do check out the website of the all volunteer statewide Maine organization, the Maine Coalition to Fight Prostate Cancer, www.mcfpc.org.

Ole Jaeger
Georgetown