[Hopespringpcsg] FW: Letter sent to Toronto SUN -- most likely to publish- a follow-up from last night's meeting

[Glen Tolhurst]

Hi all:

See below for a note I received from a member of another PCCN chapter in Ontario.

It emphasizes how Prostate Cancer, a male disease, is so poorly supported financially in Canada.

With a federal election on the horizon, make a point of asking all candidates about funding for prostate cancer.

Remember, we have to be our own advocates!

Take care,

Glen

 

 


Subject: Letter sent to Toronto SUN -- most likely to publish-  a followup from last night's meeting

Shortchanging Canadian Men

One in 7 Canadian men get prostate cancer (PC); one in 8 women get breast cancer.  There are about 65,000 persons with HIV in Canada.  The CIHR (Canadian Institute of Health Research) has a budget of about a billion dollars a year.  From the CIHR website, looking at  multiyear running grants, HIV has $729 million support, breast cancer $443 million and prostate cancer $111 million.  This lack of funding  for PC shows up in many ways.  

Lets look at treatment. In a recent talk to a Prostate Cancer support group in Toronto, a prominent radiation oncologist acknowledged a serious lack of available resources.  E.G., there are long delays for MRI machines to help in biopsies and surgery planning.  In brief, men either pay out of pocket for their required scans, or wait months, or don’t have them.  In summary, Canadian men may die because of biased policy priorities; more than 4000 died from PC last year.  One could ask political candidates in the coming election or MPPs in Provincial governments what they might do to correct this.

Irwin Pressman
Professor Emeritus
Carleton University
Ottawa, ON

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