21 January - Support Groups: How Important Are They?

Here's the notice for the next meeting of our local Prostate Cancer Support Group.

The regular monthly meeting of the Greater Moncton Prostate Cancer Support Group will be held on Wednesday, February 1, at 7 pm at the YMCA, 30 War Veterans Avenue, Moncton. Special speaker: John Staples, well known Moncton pharmacist. Topic: The role played by supplements and vitamins in cancer treatment. This meeting is open to prostate cancer survivors, their spouses/partners, and anyone interested in learning more about this disease. Everyone welcome!

This is also a great opportunity to stress how important a support group can be.  For our group, the intent has always been threefold- to provide up-to-date reliable information on prostate cancer and everything related to the disease; to raise awareness of prostate cancer in our community; and most important of all to provide a community of support for all men diagnosed with the disease and their famiies. 

The basic information about prostate cancer continues.  This disease strikes about one man out of every seven in Canada.  Research has determined new ways to deal with prostate cancer, but there is no doubt this remains a serious threat to the health of Canadian men.  In 2012, more than 4000 Canadians will die from it.  What can we do?  Encourage every man over 50 to be checked.  Being checked at the moment where we live means having a PSA blood test and having DRE (digital rectal examination).  If you are high risk, that is, if you have family members with prostate cancer or are of African-Canadian descent, you should be tested at 40.  If everything is fine, you can be checked again at 45, and then yearly after age 50.  If the PSA or DRE reveal anything unusual, you will be referred to a local urologist.  The urologist will decide whether you should have a prostate biopsy.  This is the only means we have to determine whether cancer is present in the prostate. 

If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, or if you have been living with it, we would encourage you to find a local support group which focuses on this disease.  If you don't feel you need support, you might be unaware how important your contribution to a group would be for someone completely new to the experience.  As we've said, this is not a team anyone would choose to play for, but once you're on it, then our work is cut out for us.  And having fellow team players does help.  If there is no local support group where you live, consider a cyber group- there are a number and I've provided links earlier in this blog.  I have found the tips and advice from other prostate cancer patients to be of great value to me over the past six months.

So there we are.  If you live in the Greater Moncton area (or even within driving distance), consider joining us on February 1.  The meetings are informal and we have the basis of a strong local support group.  You would be more than welcome to join us.