Healthy Colorado: Prostate cancer survivor urges men to get annual blood work
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- September is prostate cancer awareness month, a time to focus on one of the most common cancers affecting men. The American Cancer Society estimates more than 300,00 new prostate cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2025.
Roughly 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime. But for black men, the story is far worse.
In the U.S., black men have a 67% higher incidence rate of prostate cancer compared to white men, and they're twice as likely to die from it.
Nearly 1 in 6 black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. There are several reasons for this, but a big one is testing. One prostate cancer survivor is grateful he never put off his blood work or physicals and caught it early.
"A key was to stay ahead of the cancer because it gave me a positive attitude going through with it," says Antione Johnson. "I owe that to early detection. We detected it early through my physicals and getting my blood labs done every six months. So, early detection and technology. The technology is amazing. People don't have to die if they are staying ahead of their health."
Antione is now cancer-free. He had his last treatment in late August and says ringing the bell at UCHealth after his battle was a surreal experience. Antoine is a teacher who embraces positivity in his career, and he says that helped him fight cancer and maintain control of his attitude despite the challenging year he had.
He's starting a prostate cancer support group with ZERO Prostate Cancer, which can be found here.
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