Our readers come from Blue States and Red States alike. And prostate cancer doesn’t discriminate.
Blue is our color only for prostate cancer—not necessarily our party afficilation or the state we call home.
But something curious has popped up on the presidential campaign this September’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
Democratic hopeful Kamala Harris was seen sporting the blue ribbon (and an American flag) while campaigning. Check out this New York Times article.
The Times also ran a graphic with Harris and former President Donald Trump. She’s wearing the Prostate Cancer Awareness Month pin and also American flag. Trump is only wearing a flag on his blue suit.
I have contacted the press secretaries for both candidates and await their responses.
I asked the Harris press spokeswoman why she is wearing the pin. Does she know someone diagnosed with prostate cancer? Will we provide a swing vote?
I asked the Trump spokeswoman if he might sport the awareness pin.
I asked both camps where they stood on increasing funding on research on prostate cancer.
There are 3 million of us living with prostate cancer. Can we swing the U.S. election?
Media strikes out on Hall of Famer Boggs’ prostate cancer
By Howard Wolinsky
Media coverage of prostate cancer diagnoses in A-listers usually is foul ball at best.
In part, this is because the wrong kind of reporter is assigned the story: a GA (general assignment) reporter, a sports writer, a political reporter, or an entertainment reporter.
When it comes to prostate cancer, they typically don’t know what questions to ask and can’t tell a Public Service Announcement (PSA) from a Prostate-specific Antigen (PSA) blood test.
This is an ongoing story in TheActiveSurveillor.com because of the outright lies and deception involved with prostate cancer diagnoses often on the part of some high-profile people who want to conceal or minimize their “bad news” for professional reasons.. This is true across the spectrum of this cancer—from very low risk to very high risk.
The medical reporters may have a chance of taking a shot at the right answer.
Then, there’s celebs and their motives.
Pubic education about prostate cancer may not be at the top of the to-do list for these patients. Note the examples of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and actor Sir Ian McKellen, who tried to keep their cancers secret. Austin tried to hide his cancer and his surgery from his boss, Commander-in-Chief President Joe Biden, but Congressional pressure forced Austin to fess up.
Some public figures may pursue aggressive treatment rather than Active Surveillance (AS) because they believe treatment rather than monitoring will serve their financial and privacy issues best.
Hence, there are only about a handful of public figures who have shared their decision to undergo surveillance. There simply have to be more.
Many of us civilians pursue secrecy for fear of job discrimination or clients dropping us because clients may worry that even low-risk patients cannot do their jobs.
Now, we come to the latest case of an A-lister who has gone public with his diagnosis: Wade Boggs, 66, the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame third baseman and slugger.
His case is unusual because we know that he has prostate cancer thanks to his X (former Twitter) posting.
And his wife Debbie told a general assignment reporter at Boston’s WCVB Channel 5: Debbie told “SportsCenter 5 that the prostate cancer was detected thanks to a routine physical. She said her husband’s doctor was tracking a rising PSA score -- the blood test used to screen for prostate cancer -- and after an MRI and biopsy, the diagnosis was confirmed with a Gleason score of 7.”
The Boggses were open. More than many public figures facing a serious prostate cancer diagnosis.
But they may not have known there are two kinds of Gleason 7’s. The favorable intermediate-risk variety confined to the prostate capsule and the unfavorable intermediate-risk variety that has spread beyond and should be treated.
The story does not make that distinction, which matters a lot about the course of treatment.
The story also did not note that Active Surveillance is an option for some patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer.
The media struck out here.
I reached out to the reporter and Boggs about this, but received no response to date.
However, a reliable source told me Boggs has unfavorable intermediate-risk cancer. That explains why he is opting for localized radiation treatment.
More about Gleason 7
My friend Tony Crispino, an advanced prostate cancer patient who has worked tirelessly as an advocate for patients with all types of prostate cancer, including those on Active Surveillance with low-risk cancer, added some nuance for cases like Boggs:
Howard,
3+4 or 4+3 are not the only deciding points if AS is reasonable. The following would indicate the need to treat regardless of the Gleason sequence:
He is young and has element 4 in his Dx
More than half of G7 cases need treatment and the considering factors are:
Molecular testing indicates higher risk
Tumor volume indicates higher risk
Palpable tumor during DRE
PSA kinetics indicate rapidly rising PSA
Other factors in health
Gleason 3+4 patients that qualify for AS represent roughly 25% of G7 patients.
Tony
I’ll add this: 45% of intermediate-risk patients in the MUSIC program in the state of Michigan go on AS.
So best of luck to Wade Boggs and his family.
Active Surveillance for prostate cancer – the past, the present, and the future
Peter Carroll, MD, MPH, of the University of California, San Francisco, one of the pioneers of Active Surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer, in the late 1990s, will be speaking to Active Surveillance Patients International at noon Eastern on Saturday Sept. 28, 2024.
His program is entitled “Active Surveillance for prostate cancer – the past, the present, and the future.”
Carroll is the 2024 recipient of Active Surveillance Patients International’s Chodak Award honoring pioneers in the development of the Active Surveillance approach to managing lower-risk prostate cancer. The award is named for the late Gerald Chodak, MD, of the University of Chicago, he laid down the fundamentals for a more conservative approach to managing these patients. Chodak was ASPI’s first medical advisor.
Unsolicited testimonial
"I have always admired your courage and independence."—Raymond Scalettar, MD, former board member, American Medical Association.
(Note: My exposes brought down three CEOs and seven other top executives of the AMA. As a result, the Chicago Sun-Times nominated me twice for the Pulitzer Prize. I have written two books about the AMA and been the subject of a case study by the Harvard Business School, where I lectured on ethics and what I call dis-organized medicine.)
You do have a sense of humor, Al? I was kidding. I didn't endorse anyone or anything--other than the Prostate Cancer Awareness month. I do think President Trump could benefit from wearing a Prostate Cancer Awareness Month pin. Sorry to trigger you, dude. Chill out.
You do have a sense of humor, Al? I was kidding. I didn't endorse anyone or anything--other than the Prostate Cancer Awareness month. I do think President Trump could benefit from wearing a Prostate Cancer Awareness Month pin. Sorry to trigger you, dude. Chill out.
You want to swing the election for someone who is destroying this country because they where a pin, are you out of your mind !!!!!