The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

CANCER awareness group Us TOO and the Cancer Society of the Bahamas is aiming to screen 800 men on Grand Bahama at its annual free prostate cancer screening event next month.

Some 700 men participated last year, and this year they are hoping to reach more men and bring awareness to the disease.

The free screening is available to all men and will take place September 7 and 8 at the Pearce Plaza Government Clinic on Coral Road, Freeport.

Us TOO has held free screening for the past eight years, and their target goal is to screen 800 men on Grand Bahama, which has one of the highest cancer rates in the country.

As September is designated Prostate Cancer Month, the organisation will hold a number of events to raise awareness, including a town meeting on Friday, August 31, at the Bahamas Public Services Union Hall at 7pm.

Dr Robin Roberts, Us TOO Grand Bahama consulting urologist, will be the guest speaker.

Don Mitchell, chairman of Us TOO and a survivor of prostate cancer, said that screening is very important because early detection is key. If diagnosed early, prostate cancer can be 100 percent treatable. The screening on Friday, September 7, will occur from 5pm to 9pm, and registration starts at 3.30pm. On Saturday, September 8, from 9am to 5pm, and registration starts 8.30pm.

He said: "We are seeing too many men come to us when the prostate is in the advanced stages, and that is not necessary because it is easy to detect and treat if detected early, and we are urging men to come and get screened."

Us TOO Grand Bahama, which received its charter in 2010 from Us TOO International, was awarded the Edward C Kap Award for their screening initiative in Grand Bahama, and subsequent study that was done through Dr Roberts, Mr Mitchell, and the Rand Memorial Hospital prostate cancer screening which was made public worldwide.

"Screening for men in Grand Bahama is earth-shattering, and it is a breakthrough for us to do this at virtually no cost to the men," said Mr Mitchell, who also attributed the success of the initiative to partners such as the Cancer Society, the medical community and volunteers and corporate Grand Bahama for donations.

In addition to prostate screening, he noted that the RMH Healthy Lifestyle Unit would be on hand to conduct other health screenings.

"We try to incorporate as much as we can in the screening," Mr Mitchell said. "And we try not to ask the men for more than $10, and many of them give far more, but some cannot give at all, and we do not want to turn those men away, or anyone away. We do not sit in judgment of anyone. We try to take care of it through donations from corporate Grand Bahama."

Cody Dean, a stage four prostate cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2014, is encouraging men, especially young ones, to get screening. "Dr Roberts did a biopsy to see if I had cancer and I had stage four cancer, but I did treatment, and I am a survivor," he said.

Dr Alfred Brathwaite, the medical advisor for Us Too Grand Bahama, said that men with a family history of prostate cancer should get screened at age 35, and at age 40 for those with no family history, and every year thereafter.

He stressed that prostate cancer could be successfully treated if detected early.

"Cancer in any part of the body tends to follow a similar pattern. So, within the prostate, the cancer will grow as it grows anywhere else it might have started. It may take over the entire gland, but even prior to doing that it tends to spread. The first spread tends to be local to lymph nodes that are near the prostate. But after that and more significant, and because the treatment tends not to be as effective if detected earlier, cancer spreads to another part of the body. And particularly in men, when it spreads to other organs, particularly the bone, it is a dreadful disease and success in treatment is much more difficult to achieve," he said.