Journey Author Rick Steves Provides Prostate Cancer Analysis Replace

When journey author Rick Steves, 70, switched insurance coverage suppliers, he visited a brand new physician, who steered Steves endure a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) check. Steves agreed.

“He called me two days later and said, ‘You’ve got a serious problem. You’ve got a PSA of 55 and you’ve got prostate cancer,’” Steves tells TODAY.com. “It was all hands on deck to change over to: How are we going to address that prostate?”

Having a PSA level over 10 increases one’s probability of getting prostate most cancers, says the American Cancer Society. Steves says he desires to share his story to extend consciousness of PSA testing and prostate most cancers.

“If I can help people be more mindful and smart with their health, especially as they get into the age that I’m at, that’s a beautiful thing to do with my celebrity,” he says. “Talk about it. Say the word prostate cancer. Demystify it. That’s really important so that people can be comfortable talking about something a lot of people think is private.”

‘Feeling So Good’

Hearing the information in August 2024 was stunning to Steves as a result of he felt wholesome and had spoken to his physician about how he may proceed to journey and embrace life.

“I was feeling so good. 69 years old, looking at 70, feeling great,” he says. “We were talking about wellness, and diet, and exercise and how to enjoy the next years and be really healthy.”

His earlier physician by no means spoke to him about PSA testing, so discovering out the prognosis now was “just dumb luck.” Immediately, Steves needed to know tips on how to deal with his most cancers.

“The focus went from wellness to survival really,” he says. “I knew I had access to good medical care, and I was determined to be a good patient and deal with it one step at a time and play the cards I’m dealt.”

Steves, who believes he had an early-stage prostate most cancers, opted for a prostatectomy, a surgical process the place docs take away all the prostate.

“I just hoped and prayed it was contained in my prostate with a good margin,” he says. “Psychologically, I felt like I got to get this prostate out of my body, and that was what my surgeon recommended also.”

In September 2024, he underwent surgical procedure, figuring out he would possibly expertise uncomfortable side effects of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

“I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to get rid of the cancer first and I’ll deal with those side effects later,’” he says. “The happiest ending would be to get rid of that thing.”

Recovery went nicely and, fortunately, the uncomfortable side effects from having his prostate eliminated didn’t cease him from touring.

“When you’re in the middle of the incontinence, it feels like it’s going to last forever,” Steves says. “It’s pretty miserable.”

But his docs and others who went by prostate most cancers remedy assured him that if he was affected person, it will resolve. And it did.

“After three months, I was just fine,” he says.

Several months after surgical procedure, Steves underwent one other PSA check to see if docs had eliminated all of the most cancers.

“The psychological thing for me was it was really strange to be in the waiting stage,” he says. “You’re helpless. You don’t know what your new PSA is going to be. Did they get it all? Or is it still raging in your body?”

Following surgical procedure, his first PSA studying was 0.09, then it went to 0.03.

“The doctor said you can consider yourself cancer-free,” he says. “That’s the good news.”

Prostate Cancer

In early September, the American Cancer Society (ACS) printed Prostate Cancer Statistics, 2025 within the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians that confirmed that charges of the most cancers are rising.

“One thing that’s concerning about the increase in incidents is not only simply the numbers are going up, but we’re seeing an increase in the number of men who are presenting with more advanced and distant disease,” Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer of ACS and one of many paper’s authors, tells TODAY.com.

Distant illness is the sort that spreads to different components of the physique, additionally known as metastatic or Stage 4 most cancers.

“Distant disease remains an incurable cancer, and so that’s what is particularly concerning because more patients with a more advanced disease appear to be driving the increase in incidence.”

The report notes that from 2007 by 2017, charges of prostate most cancers declined by 6.4% yearly. From 2014 by 2021, it elevated by 3% yearly.

Dahut says there’s a number of issues driving this improve. One concern is that PSA screenings declined after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force stated the testing did “more harm than good,” in 2012.

“There was a dramatic fall in men who had PSA testing,” Dahut says.

Six years later, that call was revised and it is now beneficial that males between 55 and 70 speak to their docs about PSA testing, what’s often called knowledgeable resolution making. Some males ought to endure screening due to household historical past or previous irregular blood testing, whereas others may not must examine their PSA ranges usually. But this may be complicated. Today, the share of males present process PSA screening is low, Dahut provides.

“If you look at the history of prostate cancer clinically, you know it can be indolent for years and years, then over time it can evolve to where the cancer is more aggressive and ultimately spread,” Dahut says. “It’s not surprising if screening went down and then over time you would see more men presenting with more advanced disease.”

Dahut notes that different causes can play a task in rising charges, similar to environmental elements, eating regimen and lack of train, for instance.

Prostate most cancers doesn’t have any signs till later phases.

“Symptoms generally occur when the cancer has spread. If it has spread into the bladder, you might get blood in your urine,” Dahut says. “If it spreads to the bones or elsewhere, you have pain, or fatigue, or weight loss.”

Treatment for prostate most cancers can embody remark, a prostatectomy, radiation and testosterone blocking, additionally referred to as hormone remedy. Some individuals identified with early-stage prostate most cancers may solely ever want remark, which has superior as MRI expertise has improved.

“Some men’s cancer never progresses,” Dahut says. “Men sometimes will opt for treatment because there’s anxiety knowing that there’s a cancer.”

With prostate most cancers, there’s a robust “familial component,” which suggests figuring out one’s household historical past will be vital.

“People are probably not aware of the importance of family history and when one should be screened for prostate cancer,” Dahut says. “It’s not discussed that much. And if you have a strong family history of prostate cancer, you should probably begin discussing screening at age 40, for example.”

‘Be Open’ About Prostate Cancer

Since being identified, Steves has met many most cancers survivors.

“What’s astonishing to me or remarkable to me is how secretive it is — unless you’re a member, then people are forthcoming,” he says. “I had friends of mine and work colleagues (who) had prostate cancer, and I never knew. They were very good at keeping it a secret, and that’s the norm.”

Steves didn’t wish to hold his prognosis to himself.

“I feel like people need to be open about what’s going on in their lives, and people care,” he says. “I feel it’s very important for people to be tuned into their bodies.”

He admits that his busy schedule meant he grew to become “sloppy” along with his well being and hopes that others take theirs critically.

“I was too busy to be tested,” he says. “I was too busy to care.”

Since present process prostate most cancers remedy, Steves feels plenty of gratitude for the docs and most cancers researchers who helped him have a constructive end result.

“I wouldn’t be here without research,” he says. “We need to embrace the value of medical research, and we need to fund it.”

He “marvels” on the advances that helped him proceed touring and sharing with others.

“I’m standing here right now traveling, writing guidebooks, making TV shows, having fun and inspiring people to reach out and embrace the world through their travels,” he says. “That is why God put me on this planet, and I’ve got some good years ahead of me thanks to medical research.”