JUNE 2024

Apologies for our being a couple of days late with the June newsletter. Our schedule for National Men’s Health Month was an ambitious one, and our staff was stretched to its limits to organize, travel to, and participate in a wide variety of men’s health-related events.  

Congratulations to the charity Jazz 4 Prostate Cancer Awareness for their Father’s Day gathering at Americana Kitchen & Bar in East Windsor, NJ. Thanks to 150 walk-ups on the day of the event, over 250 attended an event where the importance of prostate cancer screening was the theme of the day’s videos and spoken remarks. The keynote was delivered by inspirational speaker, sports analyst, and entrepreneur, Eric LeGrand. 

Our annual screening with the Mets and NewYork-Presbyterian took place at the Piazza 31 Club at Citi Field on Thursday, June 13. About 200 men took advantage of the offer of a free PSA screening and a voucher for two tickets to a 2024 Mets game. Thanks to the staff and doctors from NYP, as well as to our pals from the Mets, for taking the time and effort to spotlight the importance of men taking responsibility for their health.  

Take the time to check out our events schedule – the full list is online – and try to come out and see us this summer. We especially call your attention to the Wiffle Ball tournament at the New York AC on Travers Island in Pelham, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon, July 20. Or just come to the 5 p.m. barbecue on the NYAC’s spectacular grounds on Long Island Sound. Tickets are now available.

I am gearing up for my 30 (or 31) Catches in 30 Days, an initiative that will kick off (football joke) on Sunday, September 1. For more information about the September schedule, sponsorships, or to bet against my arm making it to September 30, drop us a note to [email protected].

Hats off again to the hard-working organizations with whom we partnered during the month of June, all working toward the common goal of improving men’s health and access to quality care. 

Here’s to a happy, healthy, and safe summer. We hope to see you at one (or more!) of our community events.

All the best,

Ed Randall
Founder + Chief Advocacy Officer
Fans for the Cure

Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, star of Mad Dog Radio and “Mad Dog Unleashed” on SiriusXM, joined our founder Ed Randall for a rousing ninety-minute conversation at the SVA Theatre that brought back memories of the heyday of sports talk radio in New York City. The 45-minute Q&A was classic Russo circa 1992, reminiscent of the days when Mike's and the Mad Dog’s take on each day’s sports stories meant everything. 

Thank you, Chris Russo, for your generosity to our charity and for bringing your A-game to our audience. 

Our gratitude goes out to our event sponsors – TD Bank, Christa and John Reddy, Anthony Scaramucci, Fay Vincent, and Matt Fry of Foundever. We also thank Dr. Aaron Katz of NYU Langone Health for his emphatic message about the importance of early detection and for introducing the event from the stage.

Messiah Baptist Church will host a prostate cancer awareness and education session at the Yonkers Public Library on Saturday, June 29 from 10 AM until 1 PM. The library is located at 1 Larkin Center, directly across the street from the Yonkers Metro-North train station.  

The special guest presenter will be noted urologist, Dr. Gregory Joice of NewYork-Presbyterian/ColumbiaDoctors. Representatives of Fans for the Cure will also (briefly) address the group. Lunch will be served at approximately 12:15 PM.

Several area churches are joining Messiah Baptist Church to support this event. For more information, please email event organizer Harold McKoy at [email protected].

We were surprised and delighted on Thursday, June 13, when we were visited by Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Founder and Chairman, Michael Milken, and its president, Gina Carithers. Along with a larger Foundation contingent, they had stopped at Citi Field as part of the PCF’s promotion of its fundraiser, the MLB Home Run Challenge. 

Along with the team from NewYork-Presbyterian, Fans for the Cure was set up in the Piazza 31 Club to offer educational materials and free PSA blood tests to men wishing to be screened for prostate cancer.  

Milken recently had been a guest on the Stay in the Game podcast, where he told host Ed Randall that he saw a path through research for prostate cancer to be eradicated before 2050. (Listen to the podcast.)

Fans for the Cure is pleased to be honoring NFL and broadcasting legend Phil Simms for twenty years of work and advocacy on behalf of our charity. The dinner will take place at Thomas Keller’s per se Restaurant in New York City on Tuesday, October 29. 

Previous Visionary Dinner honorees have included Chef Keller, Islanders Co-Owner Jon Ledecky, and Scott Minerd of Guggenheim Partners.  

Also, Chef Keller has generously offered a round of golf (Chef + 3) at Silverado Country Club in Napa, CA, plus dinner for 4-6 at the French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Please contact us at [email protected] for information on how to bid on this experience. A portion of the donation will be tax deductible.  

Please contact us at [email protected] to inquire about early reservations or sponsorships. Remaining individual tickets to the dinner will go on sale to the public via our website on July 9.

Bayer is offering a state-of-the-art 3-D tool to help medical students, doctors, and patients/families learn more about the prostate and how various treatment options work.  

Previous Insight offerings for kidney, lung, and heart have won numerous tech and innovation awards worldwide.  

From Bayer's press release: Embark on a journey through the prostate, from macroscopic to microscopic anatomy, and explore the structures of the prostate in unprecedented detail.

In addition to the anatomically correct representations, INSIGHT PROSTATE has also visualized pathological changes and made them understandable.

View web version: animares.com/public/bayer/insight-prostate/

YouTube Preview: youtu.be/jm1C5iNVLcQ

For the app, go to the App Store on your preferred platform and search for Insight Prostate.  

Fans for the Cure marked National Men’s Health Month with road trips to states and communities with far higher-than-average men’s cancer rates. 

On July 20, we accepted MLB’s invitation to MLB at Rickwood Field (in Birmingham) and a tribute to the Negro Leagues. Rickwood Field was the home of the Birmingham Black Barons, the late Willie Mays’s team as a teenager and the site of the final Negro Leagues World Series in 1948, where Willie’s team lost to the Homestead Grays in five games. We were gratified to have run out of prostate cancer information cards after having handed out over 500 at our table.  

In a quick turnaround, we were back with our friends at Mercy Medical Center and the Cedar Rapids Kernels for Prostate Cancer Awareness Day at the Kernels-Peoria game on Sunday, June 23. 

Why Iowa? Iowa is the no. 2 state in the country for its cancer rate (501.8 per 100,000 people) and the no. 1 state for its growth rate of new cancers. While prostate cancer diagnoses are increasing in the U.S., “They're just increasing faster and at a greater rate in Iowa,” according to Mary Charlton of the Iowa Cancer Registry. And our partners at Mercy Urology Clinic recognize the gravity of the men’s health crisis.

We are already discussing a two-day initiative in 2025, with a second day traveling to medically underserved communities with a mobile health van to administer metabolic and PSA screenings around the state. 

Thanks to the Mercy Urology Clinic, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and the team from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine for coming together on behalf of men and their families.

June 29 (Saturday) – Messiah Baptist Church, Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education Seminar, Yonkers Public Library, Yonkers, NY. 10 AM – to 1 PM.

July 13 (Saturday) – Uzo Felix Health Foundation Health Fair, Roosevelt, NY. 10 AM – 2 PM.

July 20 (Saturday) – Wiffle Ball Tournament (and Prostate Cancer Awareness Day), New York Athletic Club, Travers Island, Pelham, NY. 12:30 PM – 8 PM.

August 22 (Thursday) – Monroe Township Senior Softball League: Tournament for Prostate Cancer, Monroe Township, NJ (Details to come) – 5:30 PM – 10 PM

September 10 (Tuesday) – Screening at T-Mobile Park. Mariners vs. San Diego Padres @ 6:40 PDT. For more information, email to [email protected].  

September 12 (Thursday) – Yankees screening at Yankee Stadium with Montefiore Einstein. Yankees vs. Red Sox @ 7:05 PM. Located on 200 level. Screenings begin when gates open.

September 15 (Sunday) – NYU Prostate Cancer Seminar – Mineola, NY.  8 AM – to 12 PM (lunch included). For more information, please email [email protected].

September 21 (Saturday) – Asbury Park Bazaar, Asbury Park, NJ,.Details to follow.  

Fall 2024, Date TBD – Screening at Rutgers Football Game

Both of our online support groups are free and open to all men and women respectively, with registration required.

Men's Support Group

• Thursday, July 11 at 7 PM ET – Register for the Men's Support Group meeting. 
• Thursday, July 25 at 7 PM ET

Women's Support Group

• Tuesday, July 16 at 8 PM ET – Register for the Women's Support Group meeting. (NOTE: In July and August, there is only one meeting per month.)

Fans for the Cure allows attendees to register for only the immediately upcoming online support group meeting. Thanks for understanding our desire to keep our meetings safe, secure, and private.

We thank Bayer for generously underwriting the technical and production costs associated with Fans for the Cure’s Online Men’s and Women’s/Caregivers’ Support Groups.

Over the past twenty years, Fans for the Cure has been fortunate to develop a strong network of trusted doctors, many of whom practice at NCI-Designated Cancer Centers and highly regarded regional hospitals. We are always available to assist you in finding a prostate cancer-focused physician or multidisciplinary team to guide you and your loved ones through all phases of the disease.

For timely referrals in all fifty states and Canada, please get in touch with us at (888) 301-4414 or via the orange button below. We promise to get back to you within twenty-four hours at the very latest.

In this section, we share links to blog posts, news articles, medical journals, books, and other items that we think will be of interest to you.

1. 1. What's a Normal PSA Value for Transgender Women on Estrogen Therapy?
   2. Should You Do Genetic Testing for Cancer?
   3. VIDEO: Matters of the Heart — and the Prostate
   4. MRI-Guided Radiation a 'Very Important' Advancement in Prostate Cancer Treatment
   5. Lessons and Blessings Amid Life With HIV and Prostate Cancer

As we shared above, we maintained a full schedule for National's Men's Health Month. We supported educational and screening events in five states, partnering with many great organizations and medical care providers to ensure men stay in the game for as long as possible. We invite you to help us finish strong with a donation today. Your gift supports our work in the prostate cancer community.

Call us: 888-301-4414