A man successfully detected the early onset of his prostate cancer with a screening kit he bought online. Upon confirming the disease, he underwent proton beam therapy, which surprisingly cured him.
Richard Joscelyne, 72, purchased a kit from Bluehorizon Medicals used to diagnose prostate cancer. He chose to buy the kit after experiencing difficulty in urinating.
Joscelyns said that he was "noticing a slight reduction in flow and on one occasion I thought I saw blood. As it went on I became more and more aware I felt different." According to the him, he asked the National Health Service (NHS) to offer prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests to help individuals diagnose the disease as early as possible. However, the institution currently does not offer the said service.
He added that he asked his general physician about the PSA test but expressed "reluctance" in allowing him to undergo regular examination. He said that his physician's argument was that PSA test may be flawed and can give "false negatives and false positives."
Joscelyne finally decided to purchase a kit online and screen the disease at home. His result was 5.65, which according to his physician, was "perfectly normal for a man" of his age. His rectal exam also showed slightly enlarged yet smooth prostate which made him consider that his condition was okay.
After four months, the patient's reading got higher and in August, he tested positive for adenocarcinoma in his prostate. He was advised that his tumor was "aggressive" and that he could become incontinent.
Joscelyne's condition gave him determination to find a treatment called proton beam therapy which is available in Prague. It directly targets the cancer cells and thus spares the healthy ones. He discovered that a five-year-old boy named Ashya King became free of cancer after undergoing the same therapy.
Joscelyne spent 20,000 euros on the treatment. His PSA reading is now at .86. "One of the things I've realised is how ignorant most men are about it. There is a certain level of embarrassment related to prostate cancer. Education is key, as is the PSA test," he said.
Meanwhile, in a study conducted Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a cure for prostate cancer using testosterone is showing promising effects. Professor Sam Denmeade said that their goal is to "shock the cancer cells by exposing them rapidly to very high followed by very low levels of testosterone in the blood. The results are unexpected and exciting."
"This research is intriguing because it offers a hint that - somewhat unexpectedly - for some men whose cancers have reached that hormone-resistant stage it may be possible to kill or stop growth of the cancer cells," Deputy Director of Prostate Cancer UK, Matt Hobbs, said.
According to statistics, one in eight males in the Great Britain suffer from the deadly form of cancer. Further, treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy may cause side effects like incontinence and erectile dysfunction.