Doctor’s radio aid for cancer week

7:20am Saturday 19th March 2011

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a SURGEON from a private hospital in Brentwood is helping raise awareness of checking for cancer symptoms.

Ramachandran Ravi, from the Spire Hartswood Hospital, in Eagle Way, Brentwood, wants to tell people about the advantages of checking for and detecting prostate cancer.

it comes during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, which is trying to get men to check themselves.

each year, more than 37,000 men in Britain are diagnosed with prostate cancer.

To help raise the awareness of the disease, Dr Ravi will be talking on the radio about how to look out for the condition.

Dr Ravi has treated many people with the condition and wants people to understand the symptoms which, if picked up on early enough, can save someone’s life.

Dr Ravi said: “Urinary symptoms could indicate non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland, which is very common, affecting more than half of all men over the age of 60.

“Alternatively, you may have symptoms related to bladder aging, a urine infection or another simple cause. it is very important to discuss your symptoms with a health professional.”

Once cancerous lumps are found, the process of removing them can be quick, with some cases just requiring one operation and a two-month check up.

Dr Ravi will appear on Phoenix FM’s Bodytalk programme, on March 22, at 7pm, to discuss treating the cancer.

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new Democrat Party MP Peter Stoffer (centre) is dragged out of Commons by fellow NDP workers to take part in the campaign to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research, known as Movember, by shaving off his trademark moustache in Ottawa, Nov. 1, 2010. (Chris Roussakis, QMI Agency)

Having done the Clark Gable thing, Toronto’s Mic Salem is now thinking handlebar. like thousands of other Canadian men, Salem is taking the month of November to grow a moustache and raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

A couple of years ago, he raised $800 for Prostate Cancer Canada and grew a moustache reminiscent of the kind old-timey actors made famous: Small, clean and manicured. “this time around, I will shoot for the whole handlebar thing,” says the 32-year-old communications and marketing officer for The Toronto Community Foundation.

Salem is participating in Movember, a men’s health initiative that originated in Australia seven years ago and is now global. (Mo is Australian slang for moustache and November is prostate cancer awareness month – hence, Movember.) Last year, the Movember movement raised $42 million; since its inception, over $100 million has been raised, along with awareness of a potentially dangerous men’s cancer.

As new treatments emerge and more and more men come forward to put a face on the disease (think the NDP’s Jack Layton, golfer Arnold Palmer, new York’s former mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell), prostate cancer is becoming better known. But there’s still a lack of awareness, and even denial among men. Research has shown that men are 40% more likely than women to die from cancer, in part because they put off visiting the doctor. As one prostate cancer survivor told me, “if you’re waiting for actual symptoms to appear, you’re waiting too late.”

Those who’ve had to live with prostate cancer are quick to tell other men to have their annual checkups, including the dreaded finger up the rear exam. they should talk to their doctors about the possibility of having a PSA test. although a physical exam or the harmless blood test for prostate-specific antigen may save a man’s life, only half the men over the age of 50 get tested. Check out Prostatecancer.ca for more on cancer assessment.

But what exactly is the prostate, many men still ask. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland located at the base of the penis in front of the rectum, just below the bladder. it produces part of the fluid that carries sperm. Rates of prostate cancer in men are comparable to breast cancer rates in women, with a man being diagnosed with the disease every 2.7 minutes. in 2010, approximately 246,000 men will be diagnosed and 4,300 will die. it is the most common cancer to affect Canadian men.

But there is good news on the horizon. Death rates have been dropping since the mid-1990s: Earlier detection saves lives and today’s better treatments prolong lives. more accurate interpretations of test results mean that, today, some men’s prostate cancer – particularly ones that are very slow-growing and considered less dangerous – are monitored rather than aggressively treated.

But men have to take charge, learn more, and have their own health evaluated on a regular basis. As for awareness, prostate cancer is following in the footsteps of breast cancer: You can’t think pink today without thinking breast cancer. Blue striped ties and scarves are associated with prostate cancer awareness, and now, so is upper lip facial hair.

Mic Salem knows people among his family and friends who were diagnosed with the disease. his moustache will again raise awareness, he says. and growing it is kind of fun for someone in their 30s: “There’s a creep factor about them, but that also makes them kind of cool. Beards today are commonplace, but moustaches draw attention. I had a hard time taking myself seriously, though, when I grew it a few years ago. At work, they had a good laugh but it encouraged them all to talk about prostate cancer and to donate.”

Grow Your Mo

Will yours look like the mos sported by Hulk Hogan, Tom Selleck, Stevie wonder, or Howie Mandel? Will you be like Dr. Phil or Prince? Take November and give it a try – and raise funds and awareness for the number one killer of men.

Mo Information

“The mos that you grown, the mos you support, the mos you caress help to take prostate cancer research further,” says Dr. Anthony Joshua, a prostate cancer researcher at Toronto’s University Health Network. Check out Movember.com, where you’ll find info on this fun initiative, plus pin-ups of the “Mo Men” of past years.

Buy Into It

Like the breast cancer awareness initiative, Movember has spawned lines of products that donate money to the cause when you purchase them. Along with video camera skins, cufflinks and t-shirts are shoes by TOMS, a company already known for its charitable initiatives (every time a pair is purchased, the company donates a new pair of shoes to a child in need). their Movember-specific design will also donate a portion of the sale to the Movember Foundation. Visit Tomsshoes.ca for more information.