Celebrating Father's Day With Stories of Hope

Father's Day is Sunday, and to celebrate all the men and fathers in our lives who are cancer survivors, we are sharing stories from fathers and sons.

If you are a father, or have a man in your life you'd like to honor this Father's Day, please join us on our Facebook page, and share your own words of inspiration.

"Forever filled with gratitude."

Frank McKee, Jr., talks about what it was like to watch his father overcome prostate cancer with proton therapy at Penn.

I’ll never forget the moment my dad told me he had prostate cancer. I was leaving work, getting ready to get in my car when he called. There was something ominous about his voice that told me I shouldn’t start the car – that I was about to hear some news that would affect me deeply.

He told me he had prostate cancer, and that it was found very early. He sounded calm and collected as he told me he was researching treatments for prostate cancer and had a good chance of overcoming cancer.

Despite his optimism, my heart began to sink. His diagnosis would forever change my world.

Read more of Frank's story here.
 

"I have found a major way to give back and educate others about this disease."

John Turino was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1996. A South Jersey resident, John is married with a son and is chairperson of the tri-state chapter of the Colon Cancer Alliance.

My story begins on May 15, 1996. I was experiencing extreme pain on my left side. I was sent to a radiologist for a barium enema, and X-ray to look at my colon, but the liquid was unable to pass through. A tumor had blocked off the descending colon and broken the membrane. The CT scan confirmed that I had colon cancer.

Read more from John here.  

"How do I tell my children? Their father’s mortality would suddenly jump out at them."

Robert Lustig, MD, is professor of radiation oncology at Penn Medicine, prostate cancer survivor and proton therapy patient. In this blog, he discusses his diagnosis, and how difficult it was to tell his kids he had cancer.

A few years ago I went to the urologist for a problem unrelated to my prostate. I was not at all concerned about prostate cancer as my prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was less than 1.

While my presenting problem was minor, the urologist felt a scar on my prostate and recommended a biopsy. Two days after the biopsy, I read the diagnosis, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN).

Read more about Dr. Lustig's inspirational story here.