Ken Griffey Sr. is a three-time baseball all-star, a prostate cancer survivor, and a spokesperson for Bayer’s Men Who Speak Up program, which encourages men with advanced prostate cancer to know the symptoms of progressing disease and offers resources to help them feel more comfortable speaking up about it. Mr. Griffey, who is conducting a nationwide Men Who Speak Up tour with his son, Hall-of-Famer Ken Griffey Jr., will be a guest speaker at the 2016 Prostate Cancer Conference on September 10.

Radium-223 is used to treat bone metastases, a common problem for men living with metastatic hormone resistant prostate cancer (MHRPC), affecting up to 90% of these patients. The development of a drug called radium-223 (brand name: Xofigo) is a substantial innovation, not only because it causes less toxicity compared to its predecessors, but also because it prolongs life.

If you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and are unable to work, you may be worried about making ends meet. Fortunately, the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides financial benefits for people who are unable to work due to an illness.

Metastatic, late stage, and terminal prostate cancers automatically meet the SSA’s medical eligibility requirements for disability benefits. Prostate cancer that is diagnosed early and response to treatment, however, may or may not qualify you for benefits.

Eight years ago, at the age of 55, I learned I had prostate cancer. At that time, ignoring three separate doctors’ recommendations, I decided to forego surgery. One of my doctors, a urologist, gave me the name of a patient who was on active surveillance. I contacted Brad Cole and our conversation gave me the courage to try it myself.

Survival. It’s a huge word. Yet science uses it often, and without pause. It is a statistic. But for the cancer patient, the word survival is more than a statistic. It is one of the most personal statements about him and his cancer journey. It deserves more than common reference, and more understanding of its true definition. For the newly diagnosed prostate cancer patient, survival is one of the first thoughts. But we are still learning how to explain more clearly that every prostate cancer is different, and the majority do not even shorten survival. 

Given enzalutamide’s unique and multi-targeted mechanism of action, its once a day oral administration, avoidance of accompanying requirement of a steroid, and its established safety and efficacy data, it appears to be a very promising therapy. Future studies should investigate both combination strategies with other approved prostate cancer drugs, as well as the potential role of enzalutamide in earlier stages of both CRPC and androgen-sensitive prostate cancer.

You had surgery, or radiation, or both, and you may have been doing just fine for years, enduring all the anxiety-provoking PSA tests, and regular check-ups without alarms going off. So you thought and hoped that you were cured or permanently in remission. But apparently the treatments failed to wipe out the cancer completely. Because it’s back!