LIVING WITH PROSTATE CANCER: A diagnosis doesn’t have to be a death sentence
Posted November 24, 2015 8:41 am.
Last Updated October 31, 2019 1:29 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – One in seven men is diagnosed with prostate cancer, but not every case ends in a death.
In part two of our Movember series “Living with Prostate Cancer,” we are hearing from a man who has battled back from the disease.
However, Ted Butterfield warns it must be caught early and dealt with.
“Where you may run into danger is if you avoid addressing it in the beginning and don’t get your PSA test. So, you have no idea whether it’s early stage or advanced,” he says.
“You’re taking a risk.”
The 75-year-old from North Vancouver is a past chairman of BC’s Prostate Cancer Foundation.
As it turns out, the disease runs in the family. His father had it too, but lived long after his own diagnosis.
“He was treated with radiation at the time. He ended up living until 93, and he did not die of prostate cancer. He died with it, still.”
Butterfield underwent surgery 13 years ago, but warns that doesn’t automatically make you cancer-free. “Probably [for] about half of the patients who have primary treatment, it’s not unusual to have a recurrence happen.”
“If you don’t change anything in your life, then the chances are that it will.”
For Butterfield, those changes were mainly dietary.
“The most significant one is that I reduced about 95 per cent of my sugar intake. But I also increased my ratio of fresh vegetables and all vegetables. I reduced the frequency of red meat to once [or] twice a week… substituting white meats, chicken, and fish.”
He adds it certainly didn’t hurt having an expert in the family!
“As it happens, my daughter is a certified nutritionist and has taken a course in becoming a cancer coach…. How can you turn down good advice like that?”
It’s also advice he’s happy to pass along. “Looking for a cure is always part of what we want to try and achieve, but until that comes, living with it is certainly quite possible to cope with.”
He also urges men with prostate cancer to remember that it’s okay to talk about the disease.
“Absolutely. Support groups give you a chance to meet other people who are living with prostate cancer, their wives, and/or partners. As well… learn something about how people are coping with one side effect or another and you realize that you’re really not alone in this,” he explains.
“With one in seven men being affected by it, there’s lots of us out here.”