Prostate Cancer....please read this for the men in your life!

I've been extremely hesitant to write about this. However, I feel that if I don't express my thoughts, I am cheating people of some knowledge that I'm hoping to pass along to my readers.

My Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in July. I won't lie, it's been a very emotional time for my family. It was devastating to find this out.. you never think it's going to be 'you' it happens to. You truly can't emphathize with people, until you have experienced first hand. Life is a trip I tell ya. My Dad is by far the strongest person I know...not once has this ever altered his faith, or his positive attitude. Not once has he ever had the "why me?" attitude. He has always been upbeat about it knowing he can beat it and going on with life as wonderfully as he always has! He never wanted to tell anyone about the diagnosis because he never wanted to worry anyone.

On Thursday he had surgery to remove the cancer and the lymph nodes. As I sat up at the Huntsman Cancer Institute I was so overwhelmed with emotion. It's very difficult to see a parent go through that. Grateful that the surgery was a success, and optimistic that the cancer hasn't spread. He did very well and I am very appreciative for the brilliant doctors who have helped my family with this whole process. HCI is at a caliber of its own.

The reason for my post is for awareness. Throughout this 'journey' we have been educated immensely on this type of cancer, the treatment, and how cancer affects your entire family. One thing to know is Prostate Cancer is the leading cancer in men, like breast cancer with women. The problem is, is that most men are like my Dad.....quiet! The silence is the reason that awareness is nowhere near where it needs to be. During one of the seminars, it was brought up that the money funded for breast cancer research is far above the amount given to any other type of cancer research, prostate cancer being one of the lowest. I'm talking about MILLIONS of dollars.

As most of you know, October is "breast cancer awareness" month, but how many of you knew that just the month before that was "prostate cancer awareness" month?

What I am encouraging each of you to do, is to have the men in your life get checked. Did you know at the age of 15 is when men should start checking their prostate for cancer? Just like we do our mammograms. It is sooo important. Also, prostate cancer is hereditary. PLEASE please set up the appointments for your dad, husband, brother, uncle, whoever, to get checked. Had my Dad not had his blood work to go off of from 2 years ago, they would have never detected it after they did his blood work this year. We are forever grateful that he found out when he did and we were able to catch it before it spreads. My Dad is 52 years young and had no symptoms or anything..He's so active and healthy and it was a shock to us. It is so important for men to get their colonoscopies done and prostates checked EVERY year.

I would hate to hear of anyone I know having to go through this and knowing inside that I never said anything.. Right now I have 46 followers of this blog and I don't know how many others read this, but whoever I can reach out to, to you and your family to be aware of this, we need to be the voice for the men in our lives.... I've been trying to encourage my Dad to be an advocate and voice for the polynesian men on how important it is to get these check-ups. My wish is for each of you to spread the word!


Thank you to my family and friends for you love and support at this time. Those of you who have experienced this type of trial can relate. On behalf of my family we appreciate your kind words and prayers. We all know what the power of prayer can do......

**Daddy, I love you! You are my hero in so many ways, and I know every thing is going to be just fine!**