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This member is a YANA Mentor This is his Country or State Flag

Kevin McLaughlin and Penny live in Maryland, USA. He was 55 when he was diagnosed in August, 2012. His initial PSA was 3.40 ng/ml, his Gleason Score was 6, and he was staged T2a. His initial treatment choice was External Beam Radiation (Proton Beam) and his current treatment choice is ADT-Androgen Deprivation (Hormone) (Monotherapy). Here is his story.

Originally diagnosed August 2012, came very close to having surgery but ultimately chose Proton Therapy at UPenn. I read Bob Marckini's book, "You Can Beat Prostate Cancer: And You Don't Need Surgery to Do It" and started to research Proton and quickly became convinced that this was the treatment I wanted. I was 55, active and feared being on pads or fighting ED, I also felt the treatment was as good as others in terms of success. I finished treatment in December 2012 and have had three PSA tests the most recent on 10/7/2013 and all have been .8. I feel great, have had no side effects and very happy with my choice of treatment. Its a tough decision as to which way to go for treatment, just take your time and make an informed decision.

UPDATED

June 2014

Now 18 months out from Proton treatment, PSA at .5 and no side effects.

UPDATED

July 2015

So far so good. Nothing to report other than good things!

UPDATED

September 2016

4 years post Proton. PSA rising, looking into treatment for recurrent cancer.

UPDATED

January 2018

After having my PSA slowly creep up to 2.2 in 2016 I went to Arizona to have a Acetate PET scan that confirmed a recurrence of cancer. It appeared to be confined to the prostate so I went in search of salvage treatment. I settled on Dr Onik in Florida who performed Cryo and irreversible electroporation (IRE) in February 2017. PSA was .3 at first check .4 at second and .7 at the third. The next test will be at the end of this month and if it goes over 1 I will be considered recurrent again and will start to look at my options. I have been trying to avoid hormones but may not have any choice at this point. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

UPDATED

April 2019

Well here I am 7 years after original diagnosis. I had Proton radiation that failed, then attempted Cryo as a salvage treatment and that failed as well. I was having some back pain in August 2018 and had some scans that found a metastus in my spine. I had it radiated and have now gone on Lupron. I am stage 4, ogliomatastic and hormone sensitive. Hopefully some a cure will be found before I pass on, but for now I am enjoying life one day at a time.

UPDATED

May 2020

Still here, but now metastatic and being treated with hormone therapy. I have gone through Docetaxel and then cabazitaxel both of which slowed thing for a while. I feel like i'm on a long downhill slide, hoping I like long enough that they find a cure.

Kevin's e-mail address is: kmack57 AT aol.com (replace "AT" with "@")


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