NBA Hall of Famer and Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning conquered cancer after a life-saving procedure. Now, he’s opening up about the importance of getting tested.
“I was devastated. I really was because I was asymptomatic, I felt great,” said Mourning.
Mourning opened up about his battle with prostate cancer Monday afternoon. The Miami Heat legend shared details on his cancer journey, including a critical piece of the diagnosis: family history.
“My grandfather had prostate cancer, and my dad had prostate cancer and a lot of people really don’t know their family history at all because they don’t ask the questions,” he said.
Suspicions were raised after a routine exam in 2022, where a series of tests would confirm the results: stage three prostate cancer.
“The best option for me at my age was to remove it, so I had the surgery done,” said Mourning. “By the grace of God, I’m cancer free.”
The operation was a success, with Mourning posting a picture on social media in a hospital bed alongside his doctor.
“It’s the number one cancer in men, non-skin but it’s the second leading cause of cancer death in men as well so prostate cancer is important,” said Doctor Vipul Patel.
As for why men don’t get tested earlier? Mourning listed what he believes are the several contributing factors.
“Financial reasons, there’s fear, there’s trust in doctors, they don’t like to talk about any type of health obstacles that they may have, they like to keep it private until it’s too late,” he said.
Some doctors agree that the age to start testing for the disease is too high and the age at which men generally stop testing is too low.
“What we’d like to really see is a reevaluation of the guidelines to make more sense, there are guidelines out there but I think those of us in practice, don’t really use them because they don’t really make clinical sense for the patients that we have today,” said Doctor Patel.
Mourning, now hammering home how the mandates should change.
“We need to do the screening early, it needs to be mandated when guys go and get a check up. When they get their regular annual check up, it needs to be mandated,” he said.
Now, after his own battle, mourning is calling on other men to to take their first step.
“So please, go to the doctor. Men please, get a check up,” he said.
In a similar case, Former President Joe Biden, who was just diagnosed with prostate cancer did not have a prostate-specific antigen test as part of his annual physical exams.
He says it’s because guidelines did not recommend the test after the age of 70.