Mr. Speaker, as we close in on the end of Prostate Cancer Awareness Week, I want to share a cautionary tale.
On November 5, 1993 my father died of prostate cancer and I have not stopped missing him since. He left my mom with a hole in her heart that no one and no thing can ever fill. He left this world before ever meeting his grandchildren. He left this world so long ago now that I am sure he could never even have imagined his boy standing and making statements in the House.
This is the real hurt and pain of prostate cancer.
I implore all men not to risk this fate. It is too prevalent a disease to assume that it will not happen to them. One in six men is diagnosed with this type of cancer.
The goods news is that 90% of prostate cancer cases are curable if detected and treated early enough.
If a man is 40 years or older, he should get himself checked out. It is not a particularly dignifying experience, but the alternative can end so easily and early in terrible loss and heartbreak.