With June being Men’s Health/Cancer Awareness Month, do you know what you can do to prevent cancer and find it early for yourself or family members?

• Eating right, exercising and choosing not to smoke can lower your risk of getting several types of the disease.

• For prostate cancer, talk to your health care provider about whether to be screened. This discussion should occur at age 50 for men who are at average risk of prostate cancer and are expected to live at least 10 more years.

• For lung cancer, if you are a smoker, ask your doctor or nurse to help you quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start, and avoid breathing in other people’s smoke. If your friends and loved ones are smokers, help them quit.

• For colon cancer, start screenings to find any possible polyps or cancer at age 50. Talk with your doctor about which one is right for you. If you have a relative who has had colon cancer, you may need to get tested earlier.

• The American Cancer Society recommends that all men get cancer-related check-ups as a part of general health visits after age 20. This check-up should include health counseling and, depending on your age, might include looking for cancers of the skin, thyroid, mouth, lymph nodes, and testes, as well as for some diseases other than cancer.

Doing just a few things at the right times can help you stay well so you’ll be able to celebrate more birthdays for years to come. For more information call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 and/or go to www.cancer.org.

 

LaChona Ferguson is the community manager for the Relay For Life East Central Division of the American Cancer Society, Inc. She can be reached at 740-708-5186 or lachona.ferguson@cancer.org.