ALBANY — Roderick Jolivette didn’t think he was at risk for cancer. Members of his family have lived long lives uninterrupted by the disease.
But the Albany assistant fire chief, who’d taken a greater interest in his health while serving in the military, came to realize the importance of preventative screenings last year. He was 43.
Miles Goosman was only 30 when a screening detected his cancer, but Goosman wishes it had been years earlier.
Approximately 229 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in Dougherty County, well above the state average of 166 men per 100,000. Rates of prostate cancer diagnoses are just under the state average in nearby Lee County, while they run nearly twice the state rate in rural Terrell. Incidences among black men are approximately 78 percent higher than in white men.
Jolivette was taken by surprise when he was diagnosed last October, while he was on leave from Albany and was serving as interim fire chief in Cairo.
He’d started getting regular physical checkups while serving in the military, and began keeping an eye on his blood pressure in his 30s. And while no men in his family ever had had prostate cancer, Jolivette’s father had a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, level that was consistently high. The PSA test, a blood test, is a common screen for prostate cancer.
Jolivette’s PSA always hovered around the 3s, and he’d never had any symptoms. But last October, his PSA jumped to a 5, and his doctor recommended a biopsy.
The biopsy procedure, performed in a doctor’s office, can be a source of fear for some, he said.
“It’s like a little gun ... On the first click — they got 10 samples — my leg took off like it was going to leave me,” Jolivette said.
Fortunately, his cancer would be diagnosed at such an early stage that Jolivette had many options for treatment. At first, he was shocked, and considered putting his life on hold. Nw Jolivette is glad he didn’t.
In January, he began five weeks of radiation treatment and “seed therapy,” in which radioactive seeds are implanted in the area. Today, he’s a big advocate for measures men can take to prevent a variety of diseases. As an Albany firefighter and EMT, he considers it a part of his lifesaving mission.
“Early intervention saves lives,” he said.
Still, many men don’t get checked — they may not have the financial means, or they just don’t know, he said.
“Most males don’t even have a clue about their prostate,” Jolivette said.
But Jolivette does, including the importance of certain foods to prostate health, knowledge he believes in sharing with friends and family.
And while he takes care of his health, Jolivette said that a positive attitude and his religious faith are ultimately the key.
“The only thing I can do is do the things I can do. In the long run, ultimately He’s responsible for our salvation.”
Goosman’s mother died from ovarian cancer in 1982. In 1994, his 4-year-old son died from a malignant brain tumor while Goosman was aboard a nuclear submarine with the U.S. Navy.
When the Asheville, N.C., native started having bleeding and pain, Goosman asked his Navy physicians for a colonoscopy, a test used to screen for colon cancer, a type of cancer less common than prostate cancer that occurs in both men and women.
In early 1990s, health professionals told him he was too young to have colon cancer.
“That’s what was crazy about me,” said Goosman, now divorced and a resident of Albany. “I went to the doctors numerous times. ... I just wasn’t given the tests that I needed to have.”
At last, though he was only 30, a colonoscopy revealed malignant polyps in his colon.
While he has survived cancer for 11 years, it has not been an easy fight. Almost annually doctors find and remove more cancerous polyps, he said.
Like Jolivette, Goosman believes early detection is critical — the earlier, the better.
“I personally feel that if you’re uncomfortable about it, go get tested,” even before the age at which certain tests are recommended, he said.
“I certainly wish I’d had a colonoscopy when I was 25,” he said. “I believe that we, as humans, can be more in touch with our bodies.”
Many men do allow financial issues and attitudes to stop them from seeking care — and the costs have taken their toll on Goosman’s own life, he said.
“As men we want to be strong, as if we’re invincible,” he said. “Secondly, who wants to find out they are sick?”
Goosman, who wants to become a clinical psychologist to counsel people who are coping with serious illness, was recruited to speak at an annual men’s health conference Saturday at Phoebe HealthWorks, 311 Third Ave. in Albany.
“I’m doing this because I don’t want people to go through what I’ve gone through,” Goosman said. “This is basically just my start.”
Topics covered at the conference will include heart disease, cancer, diabetes, healthy eating and sexual dysfunction. Speakers are expected to include U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, and the event’s sponsors include the 100 Black Men of Albany, the Georgia Department of Community Health and the American Cancer Society.