At the Dallas Prostate Cancer Community Rally, Rev. Adrian Backus, PHEN’s Director of Church and Community Partnerships, introduced Dr. Keith Crawford, Director of Clinical Trials and Patient Education at PHEN, by providing his biography. Dr. Crawford presented on the importance of early detection screening for prostate cancer. He went over exactly what the prostate is and how prostate cancer develops. Further, Dr. Crawford discussed the statistics behind prostate cancer throughout Texas including among African American men.
After discussing the prostate cancer crisis throughout Texas, he emphasized that the best solution to overcome the prostate cancer disparity is to increase early detection screening among Black men. When diagnosed early, men have a 98% rate for long-term, 10-year survival. Men diagnosed late in the game, however, have less than a 35% chance of long-term survival, explained Dr. Crawford.
In addition, he outlined the most common symptoms of prostate cancer, and when men should begin prostate cancer screening as well as how often and how long they should continue to do so. Further, Dr. Crawford covered PHEN’s health policy agenda including reducing or eliminating the out-of-pocket cost of PSA tests. He described the PSA Screening for HIM Act.
This session also included a panel discussion with Mr. Bob Williams, Vice President of the North Texas Prostate Cancer Coalition, and Mr. Lee Patterson, a PHEN Survivor Network Member. These individuals described their prostate cancer journey including their diagnostics and treatments. The participants also answered audience questions.