Irvine physician Howard Fishbein is a renowned family practice doctor by day and plays keyboards by night in a rock band along with his Bass Player patient and friend of over 25 years, Bill Black. But that’s not all they have done together. Black, a long time patient of Dr. Fishbein, went in for a routine checkup 2 years ago and his PSA levels were not only high, they were astronomical. According to Dr. Fishbein, “it’s unusual to see someone’s levels go from normal range to six times normal range in 3 years but that’s what happened with Bill and it just goes to show that every man should focus on watching their PSA levels regularly.” In Black’s case, at age 52 he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Prostate Cancer and underwent radical prostatectomy using the “robotic” procedure at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach in July, 2012. He has now been cancer-free for 2 years.
“Howard and I have been playing music together for 25 years and it’s great to know that we can continue on for several more years”, Black says. They play in a band called http://www.TheShenanigansBand.com which features local star vocalist Christy Coffey, guitarist Ken Dills and drummer Allan Brown. They will take to the stage at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Saturday, November 29th at 8 pm to play music and raise awareness about Prostate Cancer. The band will hand out 5 warning tips for all men in attendance. “There are far too many men who have died unnecessarily because they did not realize what a silent killer this disease is, Black, who is the Founder and Host of http://www.ExitCoachRadio.com, a local radio show for business owners that is featuring stories about Prostate Cancer this month, says. “I had absolutely no symptoms at the time, I felt fine, and Dr. Fishbein recommended that I have a PSA test and I’m sure glad that he did because it allowed me to catch it just before it spread to the rest of my body.”
The Band will collect donations from the audience and donate them to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (http://www.PCF.org) through The Safeway Foundation’s $1 Million Matching Grant Challenge, which has agreed to double all donations received before 12/31/2014.
November is Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Prostate Cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting 1 in 7 men. Nearly 3 million American men are currently living with prostate cancer, according to estimates. One new case of prostate cancer occurs every 2.3 minutes; one death occurs every 18 minutes. A non-smoking man is more likely to develop prostate cancer than he is to develop colon, bladder, melanoma, lymphoma, and kidney cancers combined. A man is 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
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