Love, a Powerful Medicine During Your Prostate Cancer Journey

On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, PHEN held a hybrid Managing Survivorship Meeting and Webinar at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute titled Love, a Powerful Medicine During your Prostate Cancer Journey.

The session was moderated by PHEN Medical Advisor Dr. J. Jacques Carter, joined by three couples, all of whom had faced a prostate cancer diagnosis. Dr. Carter explained, “Prostate cancer is a family illness.”

“The first urologist I went to said, it’s recommended you stop taking the PSA at this point, ‘you’re in your 70s and you’re probably going to die from something else at this age.’ I went back to my primary care doctor, and I told him, you need to give me somebody else,” said Mr. Lynn Moore, a prostate cancer survivor.

“It was a shock when the word cancer came out,” said his wife, Mrs. Katrina Moore. “I had to pull it together, especially because my daughter was on the phone as well. “I’ve always gone into it with the attitude that this is God’s will and he’s going to help me get through it.”

“My first thought was, my brother had been coming to PHEN [I didn’t know that] and my father had prostate cancer,” said Mrs. Gloria Lee, wife of prostate cancer survivor, Mr. Tony Lee. “I knew what it was, but I wasn’t involved. I went to Tony, and I said, we’re going to face it, so we’re going to find out where PHEN meets,” she said.

“My dad died of stage four prostate cancer in 1996, and my mother encouraged me to start screening. So, when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was already familiar with it,” said Mr. Jerry Knight, PHEN Ambassador and survivor.

One thing that all spouses reiterated was that the journey was made easier for them in staying together and being supportive caregivers. “When Jerry was first diagnosed, I was afraid. I had faith that everything was happening for a reason. Although I was praying that he would be okay, it was just a matter of me learning about the disease and treatments, said Mrs. Connie Knight,” wife of Jerry Knight.

Each couple echoed themes of their trust in God, learning more about the disease from PHEN and family members, the importance of early detection and knowing your numbers, as well as seeking out second opinions when they were unhappy with their urologist.

“We prayed about it, and we kept our trust in God and that’s the way we’ve done this journey,” said Mr. Knight.

Following the webinar, audience members answered live survey questions. The results show that 90% of the survey takers were satisfied with the session, while 83% said the session was very relevant to their needs. Eighty- eight percent said the session was very helpful and 98% said they would recommend this session to someone else.