Cancer patient and soccer dad urges regular screenings in open letter to our readers

Dear Soccer Moms and Dads,

My name is Shiv Prasad and, like you, I\'m a parent and Potomac Soccer Wire Reader. My wife and I have two sons, one of whom plays for a U8 team in the Soccer Association of Montgomery. Of course, I have fatherly ambitions (or maybe delusions) of watching both boys play for the US National Team when the US hosts the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. As I said, those are delusions. I still expect to watch the USA\'s matches in those tournaments, but a few months ago there was a strong possibility that I wouldn\'t live to see even the 2014 World Cup on TV.

You see, in July 2009 I was diagnosed with Stage III colorectal cancer. I\'m going to tell you my story with the hope that you will see the importance of cancer screening, talk to your physician about it and then, if you haven\'t yet, do something about it. I\'m not going to give you statistics, most of them are boring. Besides, when you have cancer. you\'re not a statistic or a percentage; you are one of one.

I found out that I had cancer the week after my birthday. It\'s not the gift I was expecting and it didn\'t come with a gift receipt. My cancer was unusual. Most colon cancer patients are over 50, but I was 43 years old at the diagnosis. Had I not had symptoms (rectal pain and bleeding) that prompted me to go to my doctor (OK, my wife made me go), the cancer would not have been diagnosed until it spread to other organs. By then it would have been almost certain that I would miss my kids playing on youth teams and in the World Cup.

My first thought after hearing the news was "what do we do now to get rid of this." As I mentioned, I have a wife and two young children. I didn\'t want them to be victims of cancer. I wanted to treat it aggressively and immediately. I did, however, take the time to visit physicians and consider options. To make a long story short, three different oncologists agreed on one treatment. That made it easy for me, but I must emphasize the importance of getting a second or even a third opinion. At present, I\'ve completed one course of chemo- and radiation therapy, underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and am undergoing another course of chemo. My post-operative PET and CT scans were clear.

I was diagnosed by a colonscopy. My primary care physician recommended that I have one at a visit several years ago. But I thought that I could ignore it because I was then 40 and having cancer was the last thing on my mind. I ate reasonably well and exercised, so what could happen to me? If I had that routine colonscopy then, or even a year or two later, maybe the doctors would have found the tumor at an earlier stage, therefore improving my chances of survival.

In my opinion as a biomedical scientist, one of the biggest advances in cancer research and treatment has been early detection. And a colonoscopy is such an easy procedure to undergo. Sure, you have to do a prep the day before the procedure and you can\'t eat anything until it\'s over, but it\'s a small inconvenience, every five years, for something that could save your life and give you more time with your family. And it doesn\'t hurt!

So make an appointment with your doctor to discuss or schedule a colonoscopy, especially if you\'re over fifty. Please don‚t put it off. And if you have the symptoms that I did, call your doctor ASAP. Who knows? Maybe your child will make it on to the US men\'s or women\'s national team. Wouldn\'t you want to be in the stadium for that?

I am grateful to Potomac Soccer Wire to allowing me to tell my story. You may read more on my blog.

Shiv Prasad

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Editor\'s Note: Shiv recommends the following websites as well:
The National Cancer Institute - http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics
The Lance Arnstrong Foundation http://www.livestrong.org