In honor of September being prostate cancer awareness month, we are going to feature topics about prostate cancer, treatments, survivors and awareness initiatives all month long. It’s important to keep prostate cancer awareness at the forefront of people’s minds all year long, but especially during September when the country shines a light on the topic and there tends to be more buzz around prostate cancer.

For a disease that will affect hundreds of thousands of people each year, men still don’t like to talk about their experience dealing with the disease. It is often uncomfortable and personal, but we know men sharing their stories is one of the best ways to raise prostate cancer awareness. In an effort to help share more stories, we are sharing three men’s personal journeys with prostate cancer.

Larry Rodgers

Larry has traveled all over the world as a part of working for his family-owned business whose main focus is whiskey distilleries. In fact, Larry has been to Ireland so often to work with Irish distillers, they even granted him Irish citizenship. It was in September of 2015, shortly before one of these regular trips to Ireland, that Larry discovered that he had prostate cancer. He spent that seven-hour plane ride across the Atlantic Ocean really coming to terms with what it meant to have cancer and how it might impact his future and health overall. That was a lot to think about. Read more >>

Dr. Robert Pugach

My prostate cancer was diagnosed late last year. My internist, as part of my annual check-up, ordered what all good primary care physicians should order – a PSA blood test. I requested that a “free” PSA be added to the total PSA level that is typically done. My total PSA was completely normal with a value of 1.5. But, my free PSA was less than the 25% figure good urologists want. It was 18%. So, I traveled north to Santa Rosa for a biopsy. A colleague of mine, Michael Lazar, got the honor/task of doing my biopsy.My biopsy showed a minuscule focus of cancer. It is a Gleason 3+3, involving 4% of a single area. Read more >>

Jerry Peterman

Jerry was diagnosed with prostate cancer, like so many other men, after his regular physician detected that there might be a problem through a semi-annual check up. He was referred to a local urologist, Dr. Michael Wolff, for further testing where it was confirmed that he did in fact have prostate cancer. Read more>>

If you, or someone you know, is dealing with prostate cancer, encourage them to talk to others, it will help raise prostate cancer awareness. If you feel more comfortable not discussing your prostate cancer in person, seek out an online support group, like this one, where you can connect with people from all over the country about prostate cancer experiences.