September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (NPCA). NPCA is extremely important as it provides a specific, month-long opportunity to educate all Americans about prostate cancer and offset what appears to be most people’s opinion, which is that prostate cancer is an unimportant cancer that most men will “die with, and not from”.
That impression is not always the case. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American males, after lung cancer. Men and their loved-ones should be aware of the need for informed decision-making in prostate cancer. NPCA provides us the opportunity to emphasize the importance of men having an informed discussion with their physicians about prostate cancer testing, because if a man has aggressive or potentially lethal prostate cancer then time is of the essence in receiving treatment.
As President of NASPCC I am very proud of the activities that many of our NASPCC coalitions and states will be conducting during NPCA (see below) and implore others, including those not affiliated with our organization to do the same.
Merel Grey Nissenberg
President, National Alliance of State Prostate Cancer Coalitions