Vitality, resilience and a thirst for life – A prostate cancer survivor tells his story
David Lucas’s words of guidance and wisdom show that prostate cancer needn’t be a devastating disease, and that survivors don’t have to walk the path to healing alone. This is his story.
At 61 years old, David stands tall, passionately talking about his involvement with CANSA, about his son’s successful acting career, his supportive wife, his grandchildren, his beautiful garden and his continued involvement with the Jo’burg City Council. A few words come to mind: dynamic, strong, energetic… vital.
Like his dark and beaming eyes, David is alive with vigour. And he’s not done with life yet – not by a long shot.
Spreading the message
David is a prostate cancer survivor, and hopes that by speaking out about the disease he may induce men to get themselves screened regularly. The reason is straightforward: early detection saves lives.
If detected early, prostate cancer has an enormously encouraging 5 year post-diagnosis survival rate (upwards of 95% in the US, for example). Unfortunately, this drops to 29% if the disease has spread to distant parts of the body at the time of diagnosis.
Three little words
It was something completely unrelated to cancer that sent David to his doctor in 2011 – a painful finger joint.
To check for gout (above all things), the doctor drew blood and, in addition, performed a PSA blood test. The test is an indication of distress in the prostate.
As David presented with no symptoms, a frequent occurrence in prostate cancer, the possibility of its diagnosis never crossed his mind.
When the results came back, however, the blood test showed elevated levels of the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA), which led to an appointment with a urologist and a subsequent biopsy.
Two short weeks later, David heard three words that no one is truly prepared for: “You have cancer”.
Treatment and support
Having adopted a positive attitude towards hardship his entire life, he didn’t take the news lying down. Life had thrown him a curve ball, but in his own words, “I have cancer. I’m not going to die tomorrow”.
David says that the right mind set and the support of a loving family have been his greatest blessings.
The initial treatment consisted of brachytherapy, a form of radiotherapy in which radiation “seeds” are implanted in the prostate. The procedure is a once-off, and the radiation from the seeds kills off the cancer cells.
Whereas the procedure may affect people differently, David relates that, in his experience, it couldn’t have been less of a hassle, “It was in at 8am and out at 1pm. By five or six o’clock that evening I was out walking in our street”. His implication is clear – treatment is not something to be feared.
Unfortunately, the financial strain of the procedure was considerable. His medical aid wasn’t prepared to pay, leaving David and his wife with a bill in the region of R100 000.
He notes, “We had to take out a bond on our house”. This sentence was, perhaps, the only time in the interview that David seemed to be recalling a sincerely difficult memory. The financial burden of cancer is often overlooked.
After the brachytherapy, his cancer spread to his lymph nodes, and radiation therapy was required. Unlike his previous once-off treatment, radiation is performed several times over at specified intervals.
Concerning the therapy, David regards the abrupt onset of fatigue to be amongst its worst side-effects: “It’s like someone suddenly drops a heap of sand over you and you can’t move”. Despite this, his message remains the same: treatment is not something to be feared.
The great news was that the therapy was effective and the cancer went into remission.
Living life to the full
During treatment, David says that cancer was most often far from his mind. “90% of the time I forgot that I had cancer”, but being human, in his quieter moments, he still felt a certain anxiety: “Sometimes, when alone, lying in bed, I thought ‘gee whiz’, and then the emotion came”.
Surely there’s not a single cancer survivor who hasn’t, at some point in their journey, had to “take stock” of life when no-one was looking?
But in the morning, with a few hours of rest behind him, David was up and running again, ready and willing to take on the world as if he were a man half his age.
This is perhaps the essence of his story – his lust for life is as powerful as it ever was.
The lesson
In January 2019, David learned that his PSA levels were at zero, meaning that he is now free of prostate cancer. Asked what he’d like men to know, his answer is direct and offered without hesitation:
Go and have yourself tested. It’s not the end of the world, and cancer really can be beaten.
These are words of wisdom that no man can afford to dismiss.
Awareness of prostate cancer, as with all cancers, is one of the first steps to early detection and timely treatment.
Help spread the news about prostate and testicular cancer by joining the 2019 Hollard Daredevil Run on the 15th of March. Find your entry form here.
