Patients share how a strong family history of cancer and inherited genetic risk shaped their prostate cancer journeys, highlighting the importance of genetic testing, early screening, and open conversations with family members about cancer risk. Their experiences underscore how understanding family history can empower patients to make informed decisions about screening, treatment, and advocating for both themselves and their loved ones.
Joe LaBella:
I'm going to tell you, when they put me on the chemotherapy, I was very concerned about that because as we had discussed before, cancer run rampant in my family. My father died of pancreatic cancer. My mother died of breast cancer. All three of my sisters had breast cancer. One of them had cervical cancer. My brother died of colon cancer. So to me, it was like, it's not a question of if. It's a question of when, and did not expect this. Did not.
Brad Goverman:
When I was first diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was already a little bit concerned given that my family history. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was about the same age when I was diagnosed. And so I had been charting and following my PSA levels pretty diligently.
And I started to note an upward tick in the PSA scores. And so I was already somewhat alerted to the fact that there was something going on there, and I was genetically predisposed to probably having some issue related to that. So when I got the official word on the biopsy that I was already showing signs of cancer, I think I was initially diagnosed with a Gleason 3 plus 3.
So I wasn't surprised, I guess, to answer the question directly. I was not shocked at the diagnosis, and I was mentally prepared for it given my family history and kind of following my PSA levels. And nevertheless, it still hits you hard. Even though you're expecting it it's not a surprise or a shock, the news always sort of is concerning because there's this something happening to your body that you don't have any control over.
And you understand that it does have some potential effects that could either end your life earlier or cause other kinds of dysfunction. So that's sort of how it began for me. So the day that I got the news about being confirmed from the biopsy that I had prostate cancer, the first thing you do is sort of start getting worried that this is something that first you're going to have to deal with. It's going to cause all kinds of health challenges and other challenges. And then I shared it with my wife obviously, of course. And we discussed sharing it with my family as well because my brother is probably going to follow in the same footsteps as I am given his genetic dispositions in this area.
So there was this moment or time period of disseminating and sharing the information with the immediate family and getting all of their feedback. And there was all kinds of obviously support. One interesting thing to note was that my sister was very quick to challenge my... or not challenge, but to offer her advice on therapy.
When my father got prostate cancer, she was very much against his decision on therapy. He decided to go down the radiation therapy path instead of doing a prostatectomy and having it surgically removed. And my sister was against that. And so her first reaction when I told her the news was that, "Of course, you're going to have a prostatectomy and have it removed. You don't want it happen to you what happened to dad."