Joe Cunningham: “I am a survivor, and I am a very, very fortunate survivor. By early detection, by having a good health care system, by…”

“I am a survivor, and I am a very, very fortunate survivor. By early detection, by having a good health care system, by having a doctor that is demanding, that you go through with all of the tests to check; by having a good surgeon and catching it early, one can also eliminate many of the side effects that normally go with radical prostatectomy, and that is such things as impotence and another is incontinence. And I tell my colleagues, those 2 things in every day life are very, very important. I would like to say too, to the African-Americans that are listening tonight, Mr. Speaker, that African-Americans have a much higher incidence of prostate cancer. It was interesting. The doctor said that those that can be traced with bloodlines directly back to Africa have a lower incidence of prostate cancer than those that do not have bloodlines that relate directly back to Africa. But yet African-Americans, at even a much younger age, contact and have a higher incidence, not only incidence, but have a higher mortality rate.”