Living with Prostate Cancer

With special guest:

• Max Michell

We hear a lot of statistics relating to community health. We see major campaigns that raise the awareness of different threats to our everyday life. But the knowledge and awareness of prostate cancer has a long way to go if it is going to arrive at good community awareness.

The sad part is that if more men went for regular check-ups they could be getting the diagnosis and treatment that would save their lives. Prostate cancer after diagnosis has one of the highest 5 year survival rates compared with other cancers at 92%.

While breast cancer has commandeered the colour pink leading to the middle day of the annual Sydney cricket test going pink and Penrith Rugby League team regularly playing in pink jerseys who knows that more men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer? More than 3000 men die of prostate cancer in Australia every year.

We want to remove some of the mystery by talking to a man who was diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer and has only recently emerged from treatment. Max Michell is our guest today and he describes in a frank, down to earth way what men should investigate as being potentially cancerous.

We hear from Max what may be the first signs and where you should take your concerns. Max then goes through each stage, what to expect, what are the decisions you have to make, what are the side-effect implications of these decisions and what you can expect at the end of the treatment. Max has numerous tips for men particularly those over 60 years of age which is where almost 80% of diagnoses occur.

This story is close up and personal, told by someone with direct and recent experience of prostate cancer. It affects so many men directly and nearly everyone in the community is touched by this type of cancer in some way. Tune in to Dads on the Air where we ask the questions that others don’t dare.

For more information on prostate cancer visit Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Max Michell

Max Michell has enjoyed a career as a manager of a bar and restaurant in Singapore; he has held executive positions in the hospitality industry and is a former registered nurse. Max was also a serving Policeman and was in the Citizens’ Military Force. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer at the end of 2014 and has been receiving treatment in the NSW health system. While still obliged to have regular checks Max is a survivor who generously offers our listeners the benefit of his experience.

Song selection by our guest: Jupiter – The Bringer of Jollity (The Planets) by Gustav Holst

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