Driven by Passion, Riding for Prostate Cancer Awareness
- For nearly a decade, motorcycle enthusiast Anthony Kalaj has been taking part in the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, an event to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer and other men’s health causes.
- His story, told in the new film “Keep Rolling,” covers the freedom of the road, a man’s determination to keep on trucking, and why it’s so important for men to keep up with recommended prostate cancer screenings.
- Current screening recommendations vary and can be confusing. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends men at average risk between 55 and 69 years old discuss screening with their doctors. The American Cancer Society makes slightly different recommendations, suggesting men at average risk begin screening at 50, and men at higher risk at 45 or even 40.
- Neither organization currently recommends regular screening for men over 70, despite recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing 43% of newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients are 70 or older.
- Check out “Men Beating The Odds,” a series that highlights powerful journeys of men facing prostate cancer and reshaping the meaning of survival, here.
It means suiting up, starting the engine, and riding for family, friends, and the hope of saving lives.
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Raising Awareness in Style
For Anthony, riding a motorcycle is nothing like driving a car: “You get on a motorcycle and it becomes part of you … It’s equivalent to a surfer riding a wave. We’re just riding the pavement. It’s fantastic.”
Kalaj praises The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride for not only raising millions of dollars in donations, but also doing it with style, a “dapper look.”
“It was more than [a ride]. It was the suit, it’s the preparation, it’s putting on the shirt and the tie, it’s trimming the mustache for months,” he says.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s about the unique camaraderie among riders that can’t be matched anywhere else.
Looking back on how he spoke on stage at the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, and urged fellow riders “Get checked, get your PSA checked. It’s so simple. Get it checked,” he acknowledged that he hadn’t followed through on his advice.
“I had a script for a year and a half sitting on my dresser, and I ignored it. I ignored it because I was too busy, too busy with my business, my family, my life, hobbies, too busy to check on my health and care about me,” he tells SurvivorNet.
Expert Prostate Cancer Resources
“And then cancer taught me that. And you don’t have a choice. Cancer doesn’t give you a choice.”
Kalaj was faced with metastatic prostate cancer that spread to various parts of his body, causing him to be in immense pain and needing to undergo treatment, which included radiation.
His resolve to return to riding after such a difficult journey is truly remarkable, and he describes it simply as “grit.”
“If you don’t have grit, you ain’t got nothing. You can’t win any battle,” he says. “You get on a bike and you are free. You don’t have to think about cancer. You don’t have to think about work. You are just on the road.”
Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines
There is a bit of debate among major health organizations about when the ideal time to begin regular prostate cancer screening is.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) both recommend that men at average risk between the ages of 55 and 69 years talk with their doctor about the pros and cons of prostate cancer screening.
The American Cancer Society recommends that men at average risk begin screening at age 50. Men who are considered at high-risk of prostate cancer may need to begin screening at age 45, and those with a close relative diagnosed with prostate cancer should consider annual screening at 40.
For men 70 years and older, the USPSTF and the CDC say potential benefits do not outweigh the expected harms and recommend that men 70 and older should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer.
Prostate Cancer Treatment
After a diagnosis of prostate cancer is confirmed, treatment options may range from active surveillance to surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and more.
Surgery may be an option for men with prostate cancer that hasn’t spread outside of the prostate gland. The type of surgery most often used is called a radical prostatectomy.
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During the procedure, the surgeon removes the entire prostate, along with some tissue around it, including the seminal vesicles that release fluid into the semen. Your doctor can perform this through a traditional open procedure with one large or several small incisions, called laparoscopic surgery.
Surgery side effects may include erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence. Fortunately, the side effects are usually temporary, and there are ways to help you manage them.
Radiation therapy is often done when prostate cancer is caught early and confined to the prostate gland.
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) may be used if cancer has spread or comes back after treatment. Androgens are male hormones that fuel the growth of prostate cancer. ADT, also known as hormone therapy, reduces levels of these hormones the body makes to slow the cancer’s growth.
WATCH: When Prostate Cancer Spreads: The Scans Doctors Use To Assess Advanced Disease
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