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Representing the 9th Congressional District of New Jersey in his fourteenth term in the House, Congressman Bill Pascrell is a proud son and lifelong resident of Paterson, New Jersey – and a prostate cancer survivor. His political accomplishments in Congress include fifteen years on the Ways and Means Committee, where he has tackled such issues as Social Security, Medicare, and health policy. Having served in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserve, he has fought tirelessly for veterans, including the opening of the Passaic County VA Outpatient Clinic in Paterson.
Program Notes
- Official website of U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell
- U.S. Bill Pascrell’s campaign website
- Paterson VA Clinic
- St. Joseph Hospital in Paterson,NJ
The Stay in the Game podcast is sponsored by MRIdian by ViewRay, unique in delivering MRI-guided stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for localized prostate cancer. As reported in JAMA Oncology earlier this year, MRI-guided radiation therapy – delivered with MRIdian – was found in a phase III randomized controlled MIRAGE trial to be superior in reducing the toxic GI and GU side effects of treatment, as well as significantly increasing patient-reported quality-of-life metrics.
For more information about MRIdian MRI-guided radiation therapy, or to see a list of participating healthcare institutions, please visit to viewray.com.
Episode Transcript
Announcer: Welcome to Stay in the Game, conversations about prostate cancer with Ed Randall. Here we’ll chat with doctors, researchers, medical professionals, survivors, and others to share and connect. This show was produced and shared by Fans for the Cure, a nonprofit dedicated to serving men on their journeys through prostate cancer.
The Stay in the Game podcast is sponsored by MRIdian by ViewRay, unique in delivering MRI-guided stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for localized prostate cancer. As reported in JAMA Oncology earlier this year, MRI-guided radiation therapy – delivered with MRIdian – was found in a phase III randomized controlled MIRAGE trial to be superior in reducing the toxic GI and GU side effects of treatment, as well as significantly increasing patient-reported quality-of-life metrics.
For more information about MRIdian MRI-guided radiation therapy, or to see a list of participating healthcare institutions, please visit viewray.com.
Ed Randall: Hi, everybody, I’m Ed Randall, the founder and chief advocacy officer of Fans for the Cure. We welcome you back to our Stay in the Game podcast. Representing the 9th Congressional District of New Jersey in his 14th term in the House, our guest is a proud son and lifelong resident of Paterson, New Jersey, where he was also elected to serve as the city’s mayor in 1990.
His accomplishments in Congress include 15 years on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, where he has tackled such issues as Social Security, Medicare, and health policy. After serving ed in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserve, he has fought tirelessly for our military heroes, including the opening of the Passaic County VA Outpatient Clinic, Paterson St. Joseph Hospital in Paterson that serves more than 30,000 veterans and communities he represents.
As if that were not enough, he graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx with a BA in journalism and a master’s in philosophy. I’ve left out his legislation that has benefitted firefighters and policemen, proposed alternatives to opioids, and brought about the congressional brain injury Task Force. We’re eager to begin our conversation because we have much ground to cover.
It is my pleasure to introduce the 9th District of the great Garden State from the hometown they gave us Lou Costello and Bucky Pizzarelli, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr..
Bill Pascrell: I am honored to be with you, Ed. You have a great reputation. You’ve helped a lot of people. So you’re a real Florida man. I’m honored to be with you this morning, regardless through trials I’ve had with my health come out all right, we stick the protocol, I still have the fire in my belly, I love my community, and I think I still conserve my neighbors as I get up in age.
I wake up every day to serve Garden Staters with enthusiasm. It’s not the pay that keeps me there, I can guarantee you that. I stand up for freedom and democracy at home and abroad. So I’m raring to go. I already announced my… that I’m going to run again next year. So I’ll be 87. So that’s the story of my life. I never yield. I learned that in Paterson. I learned that with my family. I learned that at Fordham. So I’m raring to go. Take me out in a box. I don’t know the words. I hope not soon.
Ed Randall: Congressman, you were late bloomer politically in that you were 53 years old when you were elected mayor of Paterson, and a few weeks shy of 60 years old when you were first elected to Congress, but you’re not slowing down. In fact, as you just mentioned, you announced just last month that you would run for your 15th term in the house in 2024. Did you ever think you’d have this much energy and passion for a job in your mid-80s?
Bill Pascrell: No. Congress is the Article I branch. We are the branch closest to the people. Sometimes you could question that. It’s up to us to show that government can do good in America and help Americans and their lives. Look, there’s two kinds of people that want to run for Congress: one wants to change the world, the other wants to make your community better, more livable. That’s me. That’s what I’m thinking about when I go to work every day. And regardless of whether I’m in Washington or back in district, that’s important and that’s critical.
The last Congress was the most productive in generations, by anyone’s estimate. Democrats sent the Americans life-saving stimulus checks. We created a child tax credit, we turbocharged our economy, we even kept the price of insulin, we created thousands of new roads and bridges, most jobs ever created in the time period, and we made the largest investment ever in fighting climate change.
Congress can work. We can chew gum and do our jobs at the same time. That’s remarkable. And we need to make clear to Americans what we can do to help our economy and our lives day to day.
Ed Randall: Congress is fighting it out with the current Supreme Court for the lowest approval ratings among branches of the US government. But you’re a good guy, and you have decided to fight the good fight in the house for nearly 30 years. What would you say to people who have lost faith in the ability of Congress to positively impact their lives?
Bill Pascrell: Well, look, I wouldn’t stay so long if I didn’t believe that we can help. Help is on the way. Now, that could be either lip service, it could be simply fuddle ups or you really do something to move the economy. I’m in the District, but not just living in the district. I move around, get to every part of the district, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, it does not matter to me at all. My record is my record.
So I could be just jiving words here, but the fact of the matter is most of my bills have bipartisan support. And I’m proud of the legislation we put forth over the years. I’m not stopping. I haven’t slowed down. I’m going to continue what I’m doing. I have hope. And I may be foolish and naive, I don’t believe it is. I believe people need to see that their representatives have hope. Because if you’re speaking dire circumstances on the floor every day, that does not give them hope for the future.
It’s like talking about the economy. If the only thing we have to say is negative, what do you think people are gonna think? Well, apparently there’s no hope and we’re waiting for the skies to open. You know, I’m a Christian and I believe in miracles, but you know, we need to do something about it as well.
Ed Randall: You’ve lived your entire life in Paterson, New Jersey. It’s a city I’ve only heard about peripherally from Bucky Pizzarelli and Lou Costello, and Larry Doby. But the love they had for their hometown was present in every sentence. Tell us, if you will, about Paterson and the imprint it has had on your life.
Bill Pascrell: I lived there all my life. I never moved. In fact, when I was teaching way back when, in another lifetime, I guess, when I was teaching, my wife… we ran out of room in the apartment that we had rented in Paterson. So we said, “It’s time to buy ours. We got three kids, we’re gonna bring them up in a house.”
So I started to look, street by street—this is how I did it. We didn’t get any realtor—and I found that there was a house in the rear side section of town that I really liked. It wasn’t that big, Cape Cod, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I bought the house. My wife drove by one time, that’s all, she saw the house, that was it. We had to buy that house.
So I showed a teacher friend of mine the house, he said, “Bill, it’s a nice looking house. This is an older house.” But he says, “You know the neighborhood is changing.” I said, “Stop the car.” Jim Whelan, name was, good friend. I said, “The neighborhood is changing and yeah, I’m gonna move into this neighborhood. This is where I’m going to bring up my kids. They’re going to go to school [inaudible 00:09:37].” I said to Jim, “Two blocks from here is School 26, that’s where I’m going to educate them, and they’re going to be one of the… a few of the only white kids in this school.” One of my twin sons, by the way—I had identical sons besides my older guy Bill—was the president of this school.
Now, look, I didn’t use my kids as scapegoats because they could take care of themselves but I got to teach them. And the best way to teach them is to show them and not talk to them and think that you are the master teacher. I was a teacher but obviously, you know, I put my heart and soul into that as well.
Paterson is where I grew up. I owe it a lot. They tolerated me. In a way, I grew up in the streets and I wanted to prove that I can make something out of myself. In fact, my father wanted me a lawyer, and when I told him I wasn’t gonna go to Fordham Law School or Seton Law, which I applied to months before law school was to start, he went nuts. When he heard I was gonna go for my Master’s at Fordham in philosophy, he said, “What the hell did I raise?” The best move I ever made. The best move I ever made. I love Paterson, I love my family.
Ed Randall: And given both your love of Paterson and service to the military, how much did it mean to you to be able to help fund the VA outpatient facility and services at St. Joseph’s Hospital, which directly benefits 30,000 veterans in your district?
Bill Pascrell: Well, the point of the matter is that we had to try hard for that because the VA did not want to build any more hospitals in urban areas. And I said, “What the hell does that mean?” I guess there’s no veterans in which is ridiculous, of course. We convinced them to hook up with St. Joseph’s Hospital because that’s where their building is right on the campus of St. Joseph Hospital in Paterson, which has always been a great innovator. The sisters of charity ran it. It’s an older hospital. They’ve added to it since, and it’s a great hospital.
When I had open heart surgery, that’s where they took me, St. Joseph Hospital, Dr. Connolly. That was the place to go. A lot of vets had a difficult time getting to the closest VA, which was in Hackensack and you got to have public transportation for that if you don’t have a car. So the hospital at St. Joseph’s is something to behold.
Ed Randall: We’ll pause for a moment for a brief word from our sponsor.
Announcer: The Stay in the Game podcast is sponsored by ViewRay, and MRIdian SMART, MRI-guided radiation therapy that seeks to both reduce the side effects of treatment and increase post-treatment quality of life for men with localized prostate cancer.
Ed Randall: When we first met at Fordham a few months ago at a basketball game, you shared with me that you were among the millions of men still among us who have survived prostate cancer diagnosis. If it’s okay with you, can you please walk us through that diagnosis and how it came about?
Bill Pascrell: I had a series of things that happened to me between 5 and 15 years ago. They kind of happened every couple of years. I had shingles, which I still have. And once it’s in you, very difficult to get out. Like I was supposed to speak at the Democratic Convention in 2016 in Philly, never made it, saw it on my couch, and major operations. And then I had prostate cancer, open heart surgery, and eye surgery. You know, so far so good. I’m 86 in the prime of my life.
Ed Randall: Good for you.
Bill Pascrell: I can still see. I can still hear, although I have problems with my hearing aids sometimes. I learned a lot in having prostate because I didn’t know what to expect. My doctor was very good. It was detected by the doctor on campus here down in Washington. And we talked about how we’re going to approach it when my numbers started to go up precipitously.
He recommended that I go over to Georgetown University Hospital, you know, checked it out there. The doctors were excellent. People treated me… the janitors treated me great too. But I talked to the head doctors over there who dealt with prostate and they said, “We recommend, in your situation, the CyberKnife treatment which is a late comer.” There’s special places for that specializing.
And they convinced me that that’s what I want to do because I had no patience. I can’t go 42 times even though it’s a short period of time to get jolted. So I preferred going four times, a little longer each time than would be the normal way to handle prostate, and it was a lifesaver for my head. Because I remember when they first told me, I said, “Oh, my God, there it is. This is going to be the…” This is before I had open heart surgery. I said, “This is it. This is the big one.”
They were delightful. I was serviced in an excellent way. My family was so supportive during that period of time. In fact, my wife would come to me when we weren’t in Washington, she would come with me from New Jersey and she would go with me to my treatments. There were four treatments I had to go through. She was a soldier. The people there treated me well. And it worked. So to number zero now, and we’re keeping it that way five years later.
Ed Randall: We hear from the men in our support groups that one of the many challenges of prostate cancer is deciding on the best treatment that’s appropriate for man’s specific disease. A moment ago, you mentioned you had CyberKnife as your regimen. Whom did you lean on to help you arrive at that treatment decision?
Bill Pascrell: The doctors at Georgetown and the doctors here on campus. Dr. Monahan is the head physician on the campus. He’s an admiral person in the service, pretty practical. And they know of my impatience of things. So I preferred going only four times. And it worked. I stayed to the protocol, I did exactly what they told me I should be doing. And, you know, few years later, it’s worked out very, very well. Getting the numbers down is what it’s all about.
Ed Randall: I would very much like this to be an ongoing conversation with you in your congressional office. I don’t have to tell you that prostate cancer is a disease that disproportionately affects black men and those in marginalized communities that lack access to health care services. Too many men don’t know that the screening is a simple blood test.
Bill Pascrell: And you got to get it checked early.
Ed Randall: Early detection is-
Bill Pascrell: You can’t allow these diseases to frighten you. You got to meet them head-on.
Ed Randall: Exactly. Early detection is everything. There’s an almost 99% cure rate if it’s detected early. What can we do to help bring the message of early detection that you were so passionate about and free PSA screenings to the citizens of your 9th district?
Bill Pascrell: Well, it’s best told by people who have had prostate cancer or may have it now. And I talk to them and I tell people who have prostate cancer, so talk to your friends about getting early review, early health review. And that means you gotta go for daily checkups. Yearly checkup, I’m sorry. It tells a lot. Sometimes diseases come upon us who surprise but most of the time you know when something’s different in your body. No one knows your body better than you do. And if you want to keep your body healthy, then you got to be the lead in making things better when they’re not good.
Ed Randall: Now let’s talk about real next steps. When are you and I and Fans for the Cure going to be able to team up with urologist and a healthcare partner to host a prostate cancer screening in Paterson?
Bill Pascrell: Hey, we gotta go with the experts. You know, Ed, it always starts with my Fordham rims. I live and die with them during basketball season. Although I go to the football games too and I’ll stop for baseball game when I’m back in the district. I try to go to as many games as I can. And we’ve died for so many years. I was almost angry with the university because we had a dearth of years of basketball and never really made the attempt to make a better programming. I think we have it now.
I try to go to as many games as I can, you know, go to the tournament’s when we’re fortunate enough. I’m a lifelong baseball fan. I had a couple tryouts with the Phillies when I wanted to be a baseball player, which my father hated the idea, and my mother. They didn’t want me to go to baseball. They wanted me to… you know, then it was just a sport. To me, I ate baseball when I was in high school, and Semi-Pro ball. I bled for the Yankees, and they need to right the ship quickly.
So I learned not to yield. When you’re down, you get up. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. That’s a bug in my gut, feeling sorry for yourself, the worst disease of all. I share your commitment to expanding access to prostate screening. Again, when our conversation is over, I’m going to talk a lot with my staff and see what we can do later this year, grab something in honor of the National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September.
Ed Randall: We were especially interested in your work on behalf of VA hospitals. One reason is that overcrowding issues inside, the diagnoses, treatment and outcome gaps between black men and white men for prostate cancer are narrowed within the VA due to consistency of care across patients. We know that the VA bureaucracy can be frustrating, but there was also positives. Can you please speak to what the VA brings to veterans and to the communities it serves?
Bill Pascrell: Well, I’m a vet. I’m sure some of you are. Veterans and others deserve to access culturally competent care near their homes, not 100 miles away. So VAs are more than just a place to get medical care. I could not have done it without them and their support. I had fantastic doctors, they have saved my life. I took it one day at a time. I never questioned I would beat it because I fought hard. And I will continue to fight hard for the things I believe in, the things I think are right.
But we got to make sure that you have the resources and the competent people. I think that’s one of the things that’s been missing from the VA is having the best of doctors. Because we need to get folks to understand that this is a calling, particularly in the VA hospitals. And them not being able to afford nor they have the resources to get the best people there, that’s a big problem more than anything else.
Ed Randall: We are Fans for the Cure. So here is a fan’s question for Congressman Bill Pascrell. What team or teams did you grow up rooting for and what teams do you follow now?
Bill Pascrell: New York Yankees, the New York Rangers, not the Devils.
Ed Randall: Wow. How do you deal with that being a congressman from New Jersey?
Bill Pascrell: I hide when I go to the games. Yeah, really. Of course, I had been a Giant fan and I like the Jets and their guts. I became a Cardinal fan when the Cardinals got a four quarterback from Fordham and then I became a fan in Arizona because of a great running back that went to Fordham and played for them.
Ed Randall: Chase Edmonds.
Bill Pascrell: What a bright young man! I hold him up as a model, somebody went to Fordham, had the grades, had the wherewithal. And I just am so proud when these guys make it through Fordham and still play sports. So you got a couple of baseball players into measures. That’s for sure. Frankie Frisch was the first one.
Ed Randall: What kind of ballplayer were you? Did you play at Fordham? And you mentioned you had a couple of tryouts with the Phillies. Did you play ball at Fordham?
Bill Pascrell: I played for two years.
Ed Randall: What position did you play?
Bill Pascrell: Well, that was the problem. I played so many positions, I was all state in high school playing at third base. But I was a catcher, a third baseman, centerfielder, and relief pitcher. So I guess I couldn’t settle on any one of them and obviously was not good enough to make the Majors. I don’t regret anything or any time I spent on the field. I played for the congressional team down here up until about seven years ago.
Ed Randall: Wow.
Bill Pascrell: Then I became the hitting coach.
Ed Randall: Wow, good for you.
Bill Pascrell: You know, I had a shot at the Majors to be a batting coach.
Ed Randall: Wow.
Bill Pascrell: Some of these guys make the same mistakes as six-year-olds.
Ed Randall: Don’t get as good.
Bill Pascrell: They don’t know how to plant their back foot. That’s the problem.
Ed Randall: That is the problem. If you have any time, maybe you can help them out. But you don’t have any time. Look with a list of professional accomplishments longer than last year’s World Series games, you can easily kick back Congressman in the rocking chair and rest on your laurels. What is-
Bill Pascrell: I hear that all the time.
Ed Randall: So what is it that keeps you in the game?
Bill Pascrell: I got a fever. I gotta do things. I’m not waiting for things to happen. I gotta be involved. I’m in trouble a lot on Congress because of my views, but that’s all right. That’s all right. I’m very, very open on some issues and closed on others. So that has to do with all the background that I had. No one has all the answers. And if you’re going to be an [ideology?], don’t count me there.
Ed Randall: Fordham has been around since 1841.
Bill Pascrell: That’s right.
Ed Randall: Are there any others that have come from Fordham to Congress besides yourself?
Bill Pascrell: Oh, yeah, there’s a few people here now. Velez, California, he went to Fordham, became a Jesuit priest for a little while, and Adam Smith from Washington State, the head of Foreign Affairs for Democrats who was chairman when we had the majority. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he got his law degree from Fordham. There’s quite a few around here, believe it or not.
Ed Randall: And finally, for our many listeners from the other 49 states, you have represented New Jersey in Congress for nearly 30 years and you have lived in the Garden State for your entire life, besides-
Bill Pascrell: I lived in Paterson all my life.
Ed Randall: Right. Beside Taylor Ham, the Boardwalks, and Springsteen, what is it that you absolutely love about your home state?
Bill Pascrell: The diversity. Every nationality here, I live for that. I live for that diversity, it’s part of me. Why would anybody want to live in a home on genetic setting, except you’re afraid to see difference, you don’t know how to handle that? And that’s not what I chose. So I’m happy where I am.
Ed Randall: Thank you, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Congressman from New Jersey, 9th congressional district, late bloomer, son of Paterson, and proud New Jerseyans. Thank you again to you and to your staff for making this appearance on our Stay in the Game podcast possible. Thank you for your kindness to us. We so look forward to working with you.
Bill Pascrell: I thank you and my family thanks you. And I hold so much the Fordham University. It literally took me off the streets. We’ll talk about that someday.
Cancer Health empowers people living with prostate cancer and other cancers to actively manage and advocate for their care and improve their overall health. Launched in 2017, cancerhealth.com provides accessible information about treatment and quality of life for people with cancer and their loved ones, along with information about cancer prevention and health policy.
Announcer: The Stay in the Game podcasts media partner is Cancer Health, online at cancerhealth.com. Cancer Health empowers people living with prostate cancer and other cancers to actively manage and advocate for their care and improve their overall health. Cancerhealth.com provides accessible information about treatment and quality of life for people with cancer and their loved ones, along with information about cancer prevention, and health policy.
Thanks for listening to the show. You can find program notes and a full transcript at the charity’s website, fansforthecure.org. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and everywhere good podcasts are available. And if you liked what you heard, a positive review on iTunes will help other people also find our show.
