The reason Marcus Ford is still here is probably his decision to attend screenings on a whim.
Ford, who had experienced homelessness in Chicago, did not have the ability to see a doctor regularly. As a black gay man, he didn’t feel comfortable being there even if he had access to medical care. As a result, he was not tested for prostate cancer until he was 59 years old.
Stay up to date LGBTQ+ News and Politics. Sign up for The Advocate’s email newsletter.
Ford went to the clinic that day because he hadn’t had a medical checkup in a while. His diagnosis was revealed during a test he underwent “by chance,” and he is still battling it nearly three years later. Now, at 62, it’s also given Ford a new purpose in life: making sure others get tested before it’s too late.
“Men don’t really care about their health,” Ford said. defender. “I’m riding this pandemic right now to make sure all men, black, white, green, polka-dotted, get tested. You have to go and get tested.”
related: After Biden’s diagnosis, here’s what queer, transgender, and intersex people need to know about prostate cancer.
When the test results came back, Ford said, “I just didn’t react, it didn’t really affect me.” He was forced to choose between chemotherapy, which uses drugs to destroy cancer cells and prevent tumors from growing, or radiotherapy, which uses radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
According to , more than half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy at some point in their treatment. American Cancer Society. It can cause damage to nearby healthy cells, but most will recover over time. In contrast, chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells throughout the body, which often results in side effects such as hair loss and skin changes.
“I had to go to chemotherapy, and I’m already bald, so I wasn’t scared about that part,” Ford says. “I didn’t want to have injections put into my body, and I didn’t want someone to go underground and perform surgeries and other things on me. That seemed like the less invasive part to me.”
related: Cancer symptoms in trans women went largely unnoticed until gender-affirming care saves lives
Ford has Medicaid, which covered all of her treatment, including radiation therapy, except for two doses. Not all Medicaid recipients have been so lucky since Republicans passed the Trump-backed 2025 budget reconciliation bill, which would cut spending on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, according to independent estimates.
More than 20 percent of Medicaid recipients are black; data Through the KFF Show and separately data A study by the Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely to have Medicaid as their primary insurance. These groups are more likely to experience health care disparities, especially when it comes to cancer.
Ford is well aware of these disparities. He lost both of his parents to cancer, and is currently teaching his older brother treatment for prostate cancer.
Black men have the highest death rate from prostate cancer of any racial group, according to American Cancer Society statistics. report. They are diagnosed at significantly higher rates than other men and are two to four times more likely to die from the disease. Compared to white men, black men are more than 60% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“It’s a sensitive area for all men, not just men who identify as LGBTQ+, so they may be less likely to get tested by their doctor or even want to talk to friends and family about it,” said Justin Schweitzer, medical director of LGBTQ+ medical and primary care services at Cooper Health and spokesperson for the American Cancer Society.
related: This cancer researcher was studying LGBTQ+ people. her job is currently stalled
“We think this is due to a lack of guideline-recommended treatment and perhaps a suboptimal doctor-patient relationship,” Schweitzer said. “I think this really highlights the importance of having this conversation with not only your family, but your chosen family, the LGBTQ+ community when you have a family history of prostate cancer. … In my opinion, it’s this sense of community that helps with early detection and treatment and, hopefully, survival.”
Insurance also matters, as it determines what tests a test provider will cover and how often. While Medicare and other private companies typically cover annual prostate exams, Schweitzer says some patients’ insurance only pays for breast cancer exams every two years, which he says is “ridiculous because it goes against current guidelines.”
For people in the recommended age group, screening can be a powerful tool for early detection, especially when performed in consultation with a doctor to assess individual risk factors such as age, race, and family history. Screening for prostate cancer often begins with a simple blood test that measures prostate-specific antigen (PSA). PSA is a protein produced by the prostate that, when levels rise, signals cancer or other prostate problems.
“Screening can be done simply by attending a health exam and having a potentially uncomfortable conversation with your health care provider or doctor, and ideally this should also occur annually,” Schweitzer says. “Just because something was fine and normal a year or two ago doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be the same the next year.”
Although Ford is not yet completely cancer-free, he is not giving up hope. His PSA reading dropped from 27.9 to 3.1. In other words, he’s close. And after watching his father die of stomach cancer at age 54, he says he’s just grateful to be here.
“I always thought I was going to die at 54, and I was scared all the way up to my 54th birthday,” Ford said. “But I’m 62 years old now. I’m still alive. … I believe other men should be able to talk about this. Getting prostate cancer is scary, so get tested.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
