Fighting Prostate Cancer

“Prostate cancer is a growing concern for Black men,� says Grier, who played for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, and is now a minister. “We are more likely to develop and die from prostate cancer than any other racial or ethnic population. Being diagnosed with this disease can be a terrifying experience for men and their families. We need to help our brothers, fathers and uncles manage this disease and keep their families together.�

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer, but it kills more than twice as many Black men as white.
That’s one reason pro-football great Roosevelt “Rosey� Grier has joined the Prostate Cancer Foundation this spring to tell New York taxpayers about an easy way to tackle this deadly disease.

“Prostate cancer is a growing concern for Black men,� says Grier, who played for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, and is now a minister. “We are more likely to develop and die from prostate cancer than any other racial or ethnic population. Being diagnosed with this disease can be a terrifying experience for men and their families. We need to help our brothers, fathers and uncles manage this disease and keep their families together.�

Grier and the Prostate Cancer Foundation have teamed up to launch Fund the Research; Find a Cure, a public education campaign to inspire New Yorkers to contribute much needed dollars to prostate cancer research on their state tax forms. 

As the tax filing deadline approaches, taxpayers can make a difference during what is usually a stressful and hectic time. New Yorkers are able to donate directly to prostate cancer research on Line 60f of their state income tax returns. Each whole-dollar donation will directly support leading research institutions in New York through a competitive grant program and are 100 percent tax deductible. In addition, each contributed dollar is matched by both New York State and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, so that each dollar becomes three.  

According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, one in six men will get prostate cancer in his lifetime. But for Black men the statistics are even more alarming. Black men are 61 percent more likely to develop the disease and are more than twice as likely to die from it than white men.

Black men with a single first-degree relative — such as a father or brother — with prostate cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease, while those with two or more relatives are nearly four times as likely to be diagnosed. The risk is highest in men whose family members were diagnosed before age 65.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation estimates that 234,460 men in the United States, approximately 14,000 of who live in New York, will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year and that 27,350 men will die from the disease.

“We are in a race against time to find a cure for prostate cancer,� says Leslie D. Michelson, CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. “This year one man will be diagnosed about every two minutes with the disease. In fact, most people aren’t aware that men are one-third more likely to develop prostate cancer than a woman is to develop breast cancer. Donating to prostate cancer research on your tax form is one of the easiest ways to help find better treatments and a cure.�

Michelson adds that taxpayer donations will help leading prostate cancer research centers in New York find better treatments for this deadly disease. The more money raised to fund groundbreaking research, the closer researchers are to saving the lives of fathers, brothers and husbands. The Fund the Research; Find a Cure campaign will continue through the April 17 tax filing deadline in order to accommodate New Yorkers who will file time extensions this year.

For more information please visit www.nyprostatecancerresearchfund.org. For more information about prostate cancer, please visit ww.prostatecancerfoundation.org.

“Speaking Truth To Empower.â€? To contact The Black Star News write [email protected] or call (212) 481-7745. Subscribe to this newspaper and advertise to build power.

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