Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. Unbelievably, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. That's a really high number. The American Cancer Society estimates that in the United States, 238, 500 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed and about 29,720 men will die of prostate cancer in 2013.
But the good news is that if prostate cancer is caught early, nearly 100% of affected men survive their first five post-diagnosis years.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 2 million men in the United States who have already been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point are still alive today. The numbers say it all: Get tested!
What is the Eddie Check Free PSA Test & Blood Drive?
In 2004, Rockford-based Nisus Corporation teamed up with area hospitals and MEDIC Regional Blood Center to add free PSA screening for prostate cancer to blood drives. It was a simple strategy using MEDIC's already existing resources to make it fast and easy for men to get a blood sample drawn for the screening. Nisus has a personal stake in the fight; company president Kevin L. Kirkland lost his father, Eddie Kirkland, to the disease, while marketing vice president Jim Gorman is a prostate cancer survivor. In fact, “Eddie Check” is named for Eddie Kirkland.
In 2012, Eddie Check gave 1,108 PSA tests and got 1,344 units of blood product. The goals for 2013 are to give 1,300 PSA tests and get 1,500 units of blood product.
