Facing Prostate Cancer
Saving lives by educating one man at a time
By Christine Cleary
Prostate cancer survivor and Dana-Farber Trustee Tom Farrington leads a support group that offers encouragement, advice, and camaraderie.
Walter Bachmann, 25. Jack Bona, 5. Alberto Correia, 8. James Driskell Jr., 5. Randy Friday, 4. Tom Farrington, 6. When these men talked numbers, they didn't mean golf handicaps or investment returns. Rather, they were comparing the levels of PSA (prostate-specific antigen) in their blood, an indicator of prostate cancer.
One man, Tom Farrington, so valued the friendships he had made back in 2000 at Hope Lodge, a residential center in Atlanta managed by the American Cancer Society, that he later became a national spokesman for prostate cancer awareness and prevention. "We'd sit around and talk every day," he recalls, "and thought it would be great if our stories were made public. So I decided to write a book."
Now 62, healthy, and a Dana-Farber trustee, Farrington is still determined to help prevent this cancer, or make sure it is found early, through his writing, speeches, and other outreach efforts. He's especially eager to inspire black men like himself, whose risk of getting the disease and dying from it is highest in the world.
Diagnosed soon after losing his father to prostate cancer, Farrington was treated at the Radiotherapy Clinics of Georgia with brachytherapy, an aggressive type of radiation involving an external beam and implanted radioactive seeds. His 2001 book, Battling the Killer Within, includes his own story, profiles of men he met in Georgia, and information about prostate health, cancer, and treatment options.
Personally ruling out the "watchful waiting" approach some physicians recommend for the disease, he wrote: "While prostate cancer is often characterized as a slowgrowing cancer that many men will die with instead of die from, this is not true in my family. I know it to be the 'killer within.'" In 2005, he updated the book and added a chapter on "winning," which charges each man to protect his prostate health early in life, armed with knowledge about his body.
The dynamic Farrington is founder and president of Boston's Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN), which meets regularly at Dana-Farber and offers education, awareness, and camaraderie to help black men with the disease feel less isolated. In September 2005, Farrington took his efforts to the national stage when he convened the first African-American Prostate Cancer Disparity Summit in Washington, D.C., with support from fellow survivor Sen. John Kerry (see First Person: John Kerry) and Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York. He was also recently named a "Champion in Health Care" by the Boston Business Journal.
Farrington appreciates the Institute's initiatives to bring prostate cancer prevention and early detection to the community through the Blum Patient and Family Resource Van, a mobile education center that travels to churches, businesses, health fairs, and other sites reaching underserved populations. "When I had the concept for PHEN, I met with Dana-Farber officials immediately, and they were right there, supporting my idea," he says. "Since then, they have provided medical staff and expertise, space for our support groups, and outreach through the Blum van."
Prostate cancer is a major focus of Dana-Farber's work in reducing cancer disparities, notes Anne Levine, vice president for external affairs. "With Tom's tireless advocacy, we have enhanced our education, outreach, and screening to men of color, in addition to hosting the monthly support group," she says.
Once a man belongs to a prostate cancer fraternity he did not seek to join, Farrington does not let him go. "There is an army of survivors out there who are critically important to our education mission," he says. "No one else can do what we do. Our aim is to prevent prostate cancer, or bring about an early diagnosis, one man at a time."
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