I agree with you both about prostate cancer, and there is another cancer that is rarely talked about, 99% curable, and sometimes not so easily detected: Testicular cancer.

Someone I love dearly almost lost his life to it this year.

He had a persistent backache that progressed to dibiliatating pain; he refused for months to see a doctor. He even had two telltale bouts of night sweats and didn't realize they were indicators. His testicles did NOT swell, harden, or hurt.

He was diagnosed with Stage IIIC testicular cancer; end stage. The back pain is caused by the cancer traveling up the lymph nodes that start in the testicle and branch up and out into either side of the back. After four month-long chemo regimens, the offending testicle removed, and another very intensive and invasive surgery that even resulted in some organ removal, he is, right now, miraculously and thanks to the amazing doctors who treated him, in remission.

I wish that every man knew to check his testicles the way women are taught to check their breasts. Testicular cancer is usually a "young man's" disease - meaning the age range for it is 15-35. Being active in sports, a young man with a swollen, hot, tender or hard testicle may simply wave it off as a sports injury (like Lance Armstrong did), but it VERY important to have a urologist look at it and perhaps get a sonogram. Treated in early stages, the cure rate for this cancer is 100%.

A good friend I made, 20 years old, died after a horrible, terrible year fighting for his life. He never lost his sense of humor, his spirit, and his belief in his cure.

I certainly didn't mean to steal your thunder about the prostate cancer, because it is much more prevalent, but this is a big issue for my family, and I thought it was important to share.