Armed Services YMCA branches, installations and local communities worldwide participate in the celebration. By Oct. 16, packets of materials will be mailed by the Armed Services YMCA to each of the Services' family centers around the world. They will contain copies of the 1997 posters. Also included will be certificates that installations may present to military families, greetings from President Bill Clinton and senior military leaders, and a poem that was written in celebration of military families. Prostate cancer is as serious a concern for men as breast cancer is for women.
Prostate cancer is the most common cause of cancer in males.
Each year, more than 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease and 40,000 die from it. According to CAPT John Porter Sands, a urologist at Naval Hospital San Diego, prostate cancer is more common than breast cancer. It is a particularly sly disease as it can be symptom-free until it gets to advanced stages. Before the era of early detection, many patients did not come in for an evaluation until the cancer had spread to the bone. Now, thanks to early detection techniques, the majority of patients are diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, and they have a much better selection of treatment options and a much better chance of survival.