By John Perry

“You have prostate cancer.”

His doctor’s words hit Alvin Wright hard.

“Like a punch in the gut. I was stunned,” Wright said. “Cancer is such a terrifying word. I equated it with death.”

A sense of doom crept over him. Feeling as if he were already dead, Wright’s mind leaped forward.

“I imagined my family attending my funeral.”

And, as befits a ghost, he was detached from the world.

“The doctor kept talking, but I couldn’t hear or feel anything going on around me. I just sat there in a blank daze.”

Dr. Robert A. Renner broke through Wright’s wall of hopelessness by insisting the diagnosis was not a death sentence. Luckily, the cancer had been detected in the early stages when chances for a cure are highest.

Benefits of early detection
Wright wasn’t experiencing symptoms when he went for a routine exam in August 2004.

“Actually, I felt fine. Even so, I never put off having my annual physical,” said Wright, an HPD public information officer.

Renner, a Kelsey-Seybold urologist since 1978, said that prostate cancer is notorious for not exhibiting warning signs during the early stages.

Guidelines suggest annual prostate cancer screenings for those with high-risk factors beginning at age 45 and others at 50.

“As an African-American over 45, I knew I could be at risk,” Wright said.

Black Americans have the world’s highest risk for prostate cancer, more than 50 percent higher than their white counterparts. And blacks are also twice as likely to die from the disease.

“I requested the PSA test.”

The prostate-specific antigen is a substance produced by prostate cells. The test measures PSA levels in the bloodstream. Very little PSA escapes from a healthy prostate.

Wright’s PSA level was 5 nanograms per milliliters of blood. A level of 4 ng/mL or more is considered a sign cancer cells could be present.

When a digital rectal exam revealed an enlarged prostate, Renner suggested a biopsy, a surgical procedure where a specialized needle removes small amounts of tissue for microscopic examination.

In October 2004, Wright’s biopsy confirmed the presence of an early-stage tumor with cancer cells in two quadrants of his prostate.

At this stage, survival rates are as high as 98 percent.

After the initial shock, Wright, 48, realized his life wasn’t over. Feelings of hope began to emerge.

Thanks to early detection, he had options – not an obituary.

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Cancer survivor Alvin Wright welcomes each day with renewed enthusiasm. Photo by John Perry.