Why does prostate cancer only get 2-5% of funding breast cancer gets?

Brothers..... Lets face it , both breast cancer and prostate cancer are hideous diseases. And no, I repeat no, prostate cancer is not an old man's disease the same holds true for breast cancer. My question to the forum readers is in North America prostate cancer kills more men than breast cancer kills people in North America. Why does it only get 2-5% of the funding . I am bombarded every night on TV or radio about ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and other women's cancers and I have never seen a prostate cancer commercial. This is ridiculous. Sociologically one can conclude that prostate cancer is massively underfunded and that men in North America are generally unappreciated. This has to stop. Talk to your politicians and anybody that will listen. Force their hand for "AT LEAST PARITY ! " ENOUGH !, with this bias ! God Bless ! James on Vancouver Island .

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

Hey guys, I appreciate the efforts to right the ship. It's so true that emotions can run high and that jokes, especially irony or sacarsm can be easily misinterpreted. That's why we have the Community Guidelines https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/about-connect/tab/community-guidelines/

Disagreements are fine, but we should do so with respect.

This is where we shake hands, and if we were in person, we might go have a drink together. 🙂 🧋🍵🍻

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Profile picture for northoftheborder @northoftheborder

@peterj116 Maybe not everyone has it? I didn't ring a bell after my five rounds of post-op radiation to my spine (probably because I was a paraplegic in-patient be wheeled in from my hospital room upstairs), but I was offered the bell after 20 rounds of radiation to my prostate six months later (at a different facility, with no in-patient beds).

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@northoftheborder Maybe it's for those who get radiation & not guys like me who wimp out & get a one-and-done surgery.

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North , im sure glad your treatments went well. Good things happen to good people . I hope you live a super long happy life Sir !

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Profile picture for northoftheborder @northoftheborder

@peterj116 Maybe not everyone has it? I didn't ring a bell after my five rounds of post-op radiation to my spine (probably because I was a paraplegic in-patient be wheeled in from my hospital room upstairs), but I was offered the bell after 20 rounds of radiation to my prostate six months later (at a different facility, with no in-patient beds).

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@northoftheborder I had 22 sessions of radiation myself. It burned my Colon- luck of the draw I guess. But after treatments , instead of ringing a bell , I said I wanted to give back . So I Promised to clean up their Garden and bring in some rose bushes ...once I regained my strength . After 3-4 weeks I had enough strength , so I went back there and did there garden . It was important for me to give back to them ( where I stayed at Cancer lodge across from Hospital . )

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Profile picture for peterj116 @peterj116

That's one problem with discussing PC. The emotional side is not talked about enough & tensions can get high when talking about a disease we all hate. Jokes can be misinterpreted, when in fact we're all just on edge, waiting for more bad news.

I've seen the bell-ringing on TV.
I never got no bell. (sulks)

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@peterj116 you are so right. A friend of mine is a Urologist and he is 110% committed to treating prostate cancer but he says you can't do that isolation. 50% of your attention has to be on the biology and 50% has to be on the psychology of the disease. He says that one goes with the other. I would imagine the same holds true for many types of cancers, especially breast cancer. It's a very astute observation that you made. Prostate Cancer, and the psychology must be treated together. Very good point Sir .

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Profile picture for northoftheborder @northoftheborder

In any case, the main point is that research for breast cancer and research for prostate cancer are both very well funded, and we've seen huge advances in treatment for both over the past few years.

People with rarer cancers are in a tougher situation: they don't have tens of millions of people wearing pink ribbons in October or growing mustaches in November to draw public attention to their disease and keep it at the front of the line for research grants.

All cancer sucks, but with prostate cancer, we're luckier than most: consider how many people here in the forum (including me) have stage 4 prostate cancer but are able to keep going almost indefinitely because of new medications and treatment strategies that have come out in just the past few years.

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@northoftheborder you have that correct. All cancer is concerning and is a huge life changer. I have been healthy all my life and very active. More or less a 'Gym Rat' . I would say that Prostate Cancer funding and equipment is behind the curve in Canada. For example, proton radiation machines. I don't even think we have one in British Columbia. It is standard base care in Europe and in the United States. Prostate cancer gets far less funding than many other types of cancers, but it kills a hell of a lot of people. With your stage four, and the various ADT's that are available, you are right, you will live a long, long, happy life. The body does not like ADT so much but maybe you can buffer it with estradiol and other things that may help you. God bless to you and your family in a long life.

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Profile picture for peterj116 @peterj116

@northoftheborder Maybe it's for those who get radiation & not guys like me who wimp out & get a one-and-done surgery.

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@peterj116 There are no "wimpy" choices in PCa treatment, but no, bell-ringing isn't a tradition after any type of surgery, as far as I know.

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Profile picture for VancouverIslandHiker @vancouverislandhiker

@northoftheborder you have that correct. All cancer is concerning and is a huge life changer. I have been healthy all my life and very active. More or less a 'Gym Rat' . I would say that Prostate Cancer funding and equipment is behind the curve in Canada. For example, proton radiation machines. I don't even think we have one in British Columbia. It is standard base care in Europe and in the United States. Prostate cancer gets far less funding than many other types of cancers, but it kills a hell of a lot of people. With your stage four, and the various ADT's that are available, you are right, you will live a long, long, happy life. The body does not like ADT so much but maybe you can buffer it with estradiol and other things that may help you. God bless to you and your family in a long life.

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@vancouverislandhiker Prostate cancer is one of the big three in Canada for research funding, along with leukemia and breast cancer. These three together soak up about half the total research funding, and researchers for other cancers (like uterine or ovarian) are left with the crumbs. 😢

You're right that we don't have proton machines yet in Canada: they're huge investments, and require a 3-story high facility to hold them, while not actually improving overall survival.

They are useful for very precise treatment, e.g. brain tumours in children, where collateral damage could have a serious impact for the rest of their lives. Right now, Canadian provinces send kids across the border in those situations, but Ontario is planning to establish a proton treatment centre, and I think either Alberta or BC is as well.

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