Prostate cancer survivor Al Hodgkinson tells his remarkable story

There’s just over a week to go to an extremely unusual event for Campbell River, says Al Hodgkinson, president of the local West Coast Prostate Awareness Society, so mark it on your calendar now.

Hodgkinson is organizing a very rare re-enactment of his first encounter with prostate cancer some 15 years ago, when he was diagnosed with having reached Stage D or Four of the disease and told that if he got treatment he might survive another year at the most – and just two months if he didn’t.

Hodgkinson survived not only that bout, but a sudden reappearance of it 18 months ago when it threatened to move instead to his lungs.

Through all of that, he says, there were three main things to which he owes his survival: his wife Pat and her refusal to let him back away from him in self-defence; his and her sense of humor; and his own steely determination to educate himself as much as possible about the disease – and be able to ask the doctors the right questions at the right time, with their support and assistance.

At the Royal Canadian Legion hall at noon Nov 14, Hodgkinson hopes to have those doctors – his GP, his urologist and his oncologist – present to help him re-create some of the probing conversations he had with them to help him to survive.

Now totally clear of the disease again, Hodgkinson said it’s literally a matter of life or death that anyone who has any questions about the disease come and attend the session at the Legion hall.

He formed the prostate-cancer awareness organization to provide support for not only the victims of the disease but also their friends and relatives and members of their support teams.

Hodgkinson can be reached at 250-923-1357 with any questions in advance.

+More Lifestyles Headlines
<Back to Mobile Edition