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Over the years, many of us have learned to understand cancer better.
There was a time when we didn’t talk about it, we refused to acknowledge it, and we pretended it didn’t exist.
Things have changed for the better now, but not for all types of cancer.
Some cancers are still difficult to discuss, and that includes prostate cancer.
This is why we were pleased to hear how former CIMB CEO Datuk Seri Nazir Razak decided to step up and talk about his personal experience with prostate cancer and how it is helping to raise more awareness of the disease.
When talking to Rojak dailyNazir said he first discovered he had prostate cancer by accident and repeatedly stressed that he was one of the lucky ones.
“My CIMB wealth advisers recommended an insurance product to me in October 2018 and I liked the product and said it was okay. The insurers demanded that I do a medical examination and I said yes, because I am a very healthy guy, “he joked.
Because he was in the UK at the time, Nazir went to a GP there to get tested and suddenly found that his PSA (prostate specific antigen), which is a marker for prostate cancer, was high. .
“They told me this could be prostate cancer. From there, we moved on to the next stage, which was an MRI.
“Here they basically took pictures and we could see three or four tumors in the prostate quite clearly.”
Describing it as the most uncomfortable part of the whole experience, Nazir said doctors had to perform a biopsy that basically required them to cut out the area and take a sample of his prostate.
Only after this procedure was his prostate cancer confirmed.
“I had no idea. He had very little knowledge and had no symptoms. That is why some people call this a silent killer because you have no symptoms and the next thing you know is that you find out and it is too late, “he said.
Nazir said that once he was suspected of having prostate cancer, he started reading everything he could about it.
“Knowledge can be powerful, so when it was confirmed that you had prostate cancer, you already knew what it was and you knew that as long as you were at an early stage, the chances of decisive treatment and a full recovery were very high.
“The definition of prostate cancer is this. Early stage means that the cancer has remained in the prostate. When the cancer is still in the prostate, they can remove the prostate and the cancer along with it.
“But when it’s in an advanced stage, that’s when the cancer has left the prostate and has started to spread to the rest of the body,” he explained.
Once extended, it becomes much more complicated.
“This is why some people die from lung cancer, but it was from the prostate because the cancer has spread elsewhere.”
Starting the campaign itself, Nazir said it was something he felt he should do due to the high survival rate of this particular type of cancer.
“Our message is about how men can survive prostate cancer if caught early. If you look at the data, 60% of prostate cancer in Malaysia is discovered at an advanced stage. International averages range from 20% to 25%.
“So, we are on an agenda to reduce that number. If I reduce that number, I am going to save lives and I am going to save many men, a lot of pain, ”he said flatly.
As for early detection, Nazir said it was a bit tricky when it came to prostate cancer.
He said the main problem was that the percentage of false positives for the PSA test was relatively high.
“Instead of everyone getting tested so regularly, and considering that prostate cancer tends to affect older men, we recommend that if you are over 50 years old, you do it annually.
“If you are under 50, you should get tested if you have symptoms. If you have a family history then maybe try first. That is the official advice that urologists in Malaysia are giving, ”he said. The treatment of prostate cancer also varies from patient to patient.
Some patients will be advised to just let it be and keep an eye on it, while others will be advised to remove the prostate completely.
“It just depends on how aggressive he is. All men get prostate cancer, the vast majority get it after they die or when they are dead.
“The estimate is that 10% of men will have it in their lifetime and of that 10% not all need treatment. Sometimes the advice would be to just leave it at that, ”he said, adding that the decision on what to do should be by following the advice provided by experts.
As for his own experience, the test for the aggressiveness of his cancer was based on the Gleason score.
“The Gleeson score calculates how aggressive the cancer is, which is equal to the chances that it will grow out of the prostate.
“Men with high testosterone levels or at a younger age tend to get a high Gleason score if they have prostate cancer. Gleeson’s score is between 1 and 10. Mine was 9, so he was very aggressive.
“In the end, when they took it off and tried it on, they told me that if I had waited three to four months, I would have made progress. I was very lucky, ”he said, adding that if caught early, more than 90% of prostate cancer patients survive it for 10 years.
Survival rates plummet to around 20% if caught late.
Talking about cancer can be difficult, and for shy Malaysians, talking about prostate cancer can be an additional challenge.
However, this was not the case for Nazir.
“I am a very open person and I am quite relaxed about it. But I do know that the reason we have such a high number of late discoveries is because people don’t want to talk about it, ”he said.
He added that understanding the symptoms of prostate cancer and receiving the proper treatment is critical.
On the symptoms themselves, Nazir said “Firstly men will feel like they have to urinate more often and secondly I’m not sure if you’re going to directly quote me on this, you basically can’t get up.”
“These are the most common symptoms and many men have these types of symptoms and do not want to talk about it.
“They are not going to do the test because it is quite embarrassing to go to the clinic and say ‘I can’t lift it’, but that’s why I’m here.
“This whole project is to spread the word and say that if you can’t do it, you may have prostate cancer. I don’t care if you’re embarrassed, it’s better to have it tested because you could die, ”he said, with a noticeable change in his tone.
When asked what was the most challenging part of the whole process, Nazir said it was the biopsy, as it included minor surgery.
“They basically go in and stick a needle in a very sensitive area of your body. The biopsy itself took a bit of time to recover, and that’s the painful one.
“The other tests for prostate cancer are the PSA blood test and the digital rectal exam, or DRE.
“Some people find it painful, some people tend to enjoy it,” he said cheekily.
Nazir said that, as with all types of surgery, there were always risks involved.
“You read about this and you realize that a lot can go wrong. Sometimes prostate removal is successful, but they accidentally cut other parts and you have different kinds of problems, infections, etc.
“So, you worry. The recovery process is also quite critical. You want your body to return to normal. You need to do pelvic exercises very diligently and also “other things” to make sure you are back in “full gear,” he said.
Ultimately, Nazir said the most important thing was to find cancer early and treat it.
“The fear of surgery, recovery and so on is something you have to face. The worst thing is if you are afraid and then they don’t treat you and you die, ”he said.
While recovering, Nazir explained that it gave him plenty of time to think about his life options and that there were several things he regretted.
“Previously, I used to get involved in a lot of things. I don’t sweat over the little things like I used to.
“I also wanted to have a healthier life. They don’t know what causes cancer. Everyone guesses, but I smoked too much to begin with and stress was my middle name, given the job I had. My mind was always working.
“I was not disciplined with exercise and diet either, and on second thought, I wish I was better at all those other things,” he said.
Nazir added that after recovering, he was elated that he survived and felt it was vital that he do something to give back to society.
“When I returned home, I called the renowned urologist Dr. George Lee. We are friends.
“I asked him if I could get together some of the best urologists and come over for tea. So all five of them came and I asked how I could help,” he said.
He added that from there, they identified some of the major challenges related to prostate cancer in Malaysia and decided to come up with the awareness campaign and other initiatives.
“I joined the Universiti Malaya prostate cancer trust fund and the trust together with the urologists have basically come up with the plans to do what we are doing now.
“My job is to get the money for it and also to be there and be the face of the campaign. So from the face of CIMB, I have willingly become the face of prostate cancer now, ”he laughed again.
However, not everything is fun and laughter. The team has a huge goal to accomplish.
They hope to reduce the number of people who discover prostate cancer late in Malaysia to 30% (it is currently 60%).
They are also developing programs to educate GPs on the subject.
“One of the problems in Malaysia is that we do not have as many urologists, so we rely on GPs to identify and provide appropriate advice to suspected prostate cancer,” he said, revealing that there are currently 128 urologists in the country. and only 20 in the public sector.
Nazir said that if all goes well, they also hope to raise more funds to allow free tests for prostate cancer and whatever else is needed to help with the cause.
“The main message is early detection, I was over 50 years old and I was lucky to catch it because I was trying to buy an insurance product. I should have caught it because I was diligent in getting my annual checks.
“I’m an example of a guy who got lucky. I want everyone to be lucky, ”he said.
So, understand the symptoms, read about the risks, and get tested.
To understand more about prostate cancer, head over to www.onlymencan.com.
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