Facts & Resources
Every year, every three minutes, an American man finds out he has prostate cancer. One in six men has a lifetime risk of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is nearly 100 percent survivable if detected early, but there are often no warning signs or symptoms. The only way to detect the disease in its early stages is through a simple blood test (PSA) and a digital rectal exam (DRE).
After skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the United States. In fact, prostate cancer accounts for more than 40 percent of all cancers diagnosed in American men. The American Cancer Society estimated that 218,890 U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, and an estimated 27,050 men will die of prostate cancer that year. Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in American men.
Talk to your family doctor or visit www.pcaw.com for free screening in the Puget Sound area. Click here to read more about prostate cancer prevention, treatments, facts and figures and survivorship.
Resources
Being well informed is important for understanding and fighting prostate cancer. Here are some informative websites on prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer Education Council
Support Groups
Us TOO – Prostate Cancer Education and Support
Us TOO is a nonprofit organization started in 1990 by prostate cancer survivors. It offers information, counseling, and educational meetings to assist men with prostate disease (and their spouses or partners) in making decisions about their treatment with confidence and support.
Us TOO has more than 330 support group chapters worldwide, and these meetings are free and open to newly diagnosed patients, men currently undergoing treatment, survivors, family members, friends, and healthcare professionals interested in prostate disease.
Locally, Us TOO has chapters in Olympia, Tacoma, Bellevue, and Sequim. Check the web site for meeting times and locations, or call (800) 808-7866.
Man to Man
Man to Man is an American Cancer Society program that provides community-based education and support to men with prostate cancer and their families. Man to Man offers free monthly meetings, as well as community education through its speakers bureau, a newsletter, outreach to high-risk groups, and more. For more information, or to locate a program, call the American Cancer Society at (800) ACS-2345.
A Man to Man chapter meets at the Swedish Cancer Institute on First Hill. Call (425) 957-7440 for more information. These support groups are open to anyone in the community, even if they are receiving treatment elsewhere. Another Man to Man chapter meets at Northwest Hospital & Medical Center. Call (206) 276-3148 for more information.
Gilda's Club Seattle
Gilda's Club, a nonprofit organization named for Gilda Radner, the comedian who died of ovarian cancer, offers a number of services to people with cancer and their families and friends. These include support and networking groups, lectures, workshops, and social events. The Seattle club, located at 1400 Broadway, does not have a support group just for men with prostate cancer, but it does have several general groups for people with any type of cancer and their family members. Check with the club by phone or on the web site for dates and times. (206) 709-1400
Online Support Groups
There are a number of online support groups for men, where you can communicate by e-mail with other men who have prostate cancer.
These include:
The Circle
Patient to Physician 
The Prostate List
National Cancer Institute
The Prostate Cancer section of the NCI web site contains information about prostate cancer treatment, research, clinical trials, screening and testing, and more.
National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is an alliance of 19 of the world’s leading cancer centers, including Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. NCCN is an authoritative source of information to help patients make informed decisions about cancer care. Its programs include treatment guidelines for patients with prostate cancer, which are available online
