Wesley Garrett is a walking testimonial to the value of routine screening for prostate cancer.

“All men who reach 50 should take advantage of the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood test. And those at increased risk for prostate cancer should have it done even earlier. It’s simple and painless, yet it can save your life,” Garrett emphasizes.

Now 55, Garrett balances strenuous work responsibilities with helping wife Mary raise a blended family of six children and two grandchildren. When he’s not building oilfield equipment and repairing electric motors, he enjoys fishing, going to Houston Comets’ games and setting a fast pace for family outings at Astroworld.

Since being diagnosed in the spring of 1995, Garrett also has become an articulate advocate for detecting prostate cancer in its earliest stage, before symptoms appear and while the disease almost always can be treated successfully.

In retrospect, Garrett was at greatly elevated risk for prostate cancer because of both his ethnic background and family history of the disease. After being diagnosed, he learned that African-American men have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world. Since his father and two brothers had had prostate cancer, Garrett understood why he was especially vulnerable, too.

“I had always been in good health, but when I went to the doctor for a checkup he did this PSA blood test . . . and then I went to M. D. Anderson for a definitive diagnosis and surgery. It was a life-changing experience, to be sure,” Garrett recalls.

Today, he feels “just fine and very fortunate,” a message he often shares with other men to motivate them to take advantage of routine screening tests.

— Mary Jane Schier