Us TOO
Sneakers @ Work
Presentation
Draft 1
012307
GREETING
I’m a Prostate Cancer Survivor.
[Tell your own story, briefly, if you wish]
And I joined the national support group for men with prostate
cancer and their families; it’s called Us TOO.
I believe life’s experiences should cause us to do two things:
learn from them, and share the lessons learned with others.
So that leads me to this very serious reason for speaking to you –
I hope to persuade each of you to support the Day for National
Prostate Cancer Awareness and Action in June. And to take one
other action – more on that in a moment.
First, a short survey.
1. MEN: Have you ever been diagnosed with prostate cancer?
Please raise your hand – and keep it up for just a moment.
2
2. EVERYONE: Do you have a male family member – father,
brother, son, grandfather – who’s been diagnosed with prostate
cancer? Please raise your hands.
Thank you. You can put your hands down.
Here are some facts about the No. 2 cancer killer of men:
No one knows why men develop prostate cancer. But research
shows that certain risk factors increase the chances of developing
the disease. They are:
Î AGE: Rare before age 45, it usually hits men older than 55.
The average age at diagnosis is 70.
Î FAMILY HISTORY: Risk of prostate cancer increases if
close male relatives have had it. If one relative has had it, the risk
doubles. Two relatives – up five-fold. Three – it’s a 97 percent
certainty.
Î RACE: Prostate cancer is more common among African
American men, less common in Asians and Native Americans.
Î WEIGHT: Men with a body mass index above 32 are about
one-third more likely to die of prostate cancer.
Put that all together…:
• This year more than 232,000 men in the U.S. will be
diagnosed with prostate cancer.
3
• More than 30,300 men died of it last year.
• One man in six is likely to get prostate cancer – but with
early detection, it is treatable.
Prostate cancer kills nearly as many men as breast cancer kills
women.
Yet, twice as many federal grant dollars go to breast cancer
research as go to fund prostate cancer research. For every $100
donated to breast cancer awareness, education and research, only
$1 is given for prostate cancer.
That leads me to SNEAKERS @ WORK DAY.
This event is a fun way to reach people with life-saving
information and awareness. It consists of simply putting bright
blue laces in sneakers and wearing them to work for one day.
Everyone can join – and with a $5 donation make an enormous
difference in the fight against this disease.
SNEAKERS@WORK Day happens in the workplace where the
usual dress code doesn’t let you wear sneakers – that’s part of the
fun. It’s easy:
ƒ
Your company pledges support
ƒ
You urge employees to wear sneakers to work on June 15
4
ƒ
Each participating employee donates $5
ƒ
Each participating person receives a pair of blue sneaker
laces
Here’s the best part: One hundred percent of every dollar raised
through SNEAKERS@WORK Day goes directly to support
prostate cancer awareness, patient education, advocacy and
research.
To sign up your company – just log on to
www.ustoo.org/sneakers@work and click the Register button. If
you’re retired, any organization you belong to can be a sponsor.
Please sign up right away. The deadline is FRIDAY, MARCH 2.
I’ve placed a few reminders around the room.
I urge you to join this effort. And I want to leave you with this
thought – it’s the ‘other action’ I mentioned: Men, if it’s been
more than a year since your last physical – with a PSA blood test –
schedule one now. Women, remind your man until he does.