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The late Aubrey Pilgrim was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1992 at the age of 68. He chose surgery as his therapy, something he regretted to his dying day. He was a great contributor to Internet Forums and Mailing Lists and also wrote a very good book summarising relevant issues about the disease. in Mmay 2008, sixteen years after his prostate cancer diagnosis he was told he had a brain tumour, saying
I have a Grade IV Astrocytoma Glioblastoma in the Parietal Lobe with extrusion into the right Parietal Lobe. It is a huge mass. The doctor said that I had about 4 to six months to live.
He died in July 2008, two months later.
One of the things that he always reiterated to newly diagnosed men seeking the answers to questions for which there are no answers was to remind them of what he called The Golden Rule of prostate cancer. He said this Rule was:
THERE ARE NO RULES
I was put in mind of this yet again when posting Alan Charlton's update earlier today. Here is a man diagnosed at the beginning of 2003 with very bad numbers - PSA 1,500: Gleason Score 5+4=9: T4 with metastases throughout his skeleton.
Few people would argue with his oncologist who suggested a life expectancy of 3 - 6 months: everyone "knows" that ADT (the only treatment available to him) always fails after 2 years and then men who have failed ADT die a year or two later.
But Alan hasn't died - at least not yet as he heads for his eighth year of survival - thats 96 months, not six months. He is far from well, having recently suffering a heart attack, but he's a long way from the expectations of the experts. He demonstrates that there are truly no rules with thihs complex disease we share.
I agree with Terry that there are no rules - but there as sure as hell are sources of inspiration - and Alan Charlton is one! What an example of fighting spirit!
