J. Bruce Hunsicker's Weblog

	Carry On! Stay Tough! www.oneinsix.org was created in 2004 to chronicle Bruce’s battle with prostate cancer and to act as a resource for those who were involved in that battle, either directly or indirectly. The site was on the front end of the “blogging” revolution, and indicated that over time blogs would be written by Bruce, his family, friends and others who had a connection. In 2004, I had never heard of Bruce Hunsicker and I didn’t think about prostate cancer. As I write this today, I am very proud to be able to call Bruce a friend and I have voluntarily joined the fight against prostate cancer. My journey to One-In-Six started in October, 2006 when my father told me his doctor found some spots on his prostate, or “bugs” as he described them to my children who at the time were 6, 4 and one years of age. The spots were cancerous, and my father would be undergoing a procedure to have radioactive seeds implanted to attack the cells and prevent the development of new ones. He was so calm and under control, I couldn’t believe it. In fact, his biggest worry was that the grandkids would have to postpone any sleepovers for about 90 days while his radioactivity levels where at their highest. On the other hand, my mind was racing. Prostate cancer was something that affected “old” people, and I never considered my dad old except for the gray hair (which he still swears I was the cause of). What was going to happen? Would he be ok? Is there going to be any pain? Selfishly, I also thought about what this meant to me. Am I now at greater risk? What if I got it before my kids were old enough to support themselves? It was crazy, my dad had just finished explaining that he had a very treatable form of prostate cancer that had been detected early, and I was already fast forwarding to thoughts of not seeing my beautiful wife Stephanie every day. I am happy to report that the seeds did what they were intended to do. My father – or “papa” as the kids call him – is doing great. The sleepovers have resumed, and he continues to follow the plan that was laid out to do everything possible to prevent the “bugs” from coming back. On a personal note, another outcome of his treatment was that I was no longer going to sit back and hope everyone else found a cure for prostate cancer. I HAD to get involved. As my report cards will attest, I was never much of a scientist so I knew the cure for prostate cancer would not be concocted in my basement. I also knew that there had to be organizations out there that were dedicated to finding the cure. After a meeting with a good friend, John Bernatovicz - who also has a father that has battled prostate cancer (and is winning 10+ years after it first appeared) – I was directed to Bruce Hunsicker at One-In-Six. I met Bruce for lunch and explained my plan to him. I wanted to organize a golf outing – and not just a little Sunday afternoon get together at the muni course with hot dogs and chips afterwards – but a first class event that would bring visibility to the cause, to One-In-Six and most importantly would bring money to continue to fund the research projects that were underway at Johns Hopkins. Bruce patiently listened as all of the ideas – one more crazy than the next – came pouring out of my mouth. He nodded his head, offered his support, we shook hands and then I am pretty sure he walked away thinking “there is no way in hell this guy is going to pull this off.” Over the next several months, we held a number of planning meetings. Some plans came to fruition, while many others fizzled. Bruce, John and I enlisted every family member, friend, business acquaintance and stranger that knew anything about organizing a golf outing. But, finally on April 3rd the inaugural “Shamble At The Ridge benefiting the One-In-Six Foundation” was born when our announcement made its debut in the Golf Monday section of The Plain Dealer. We got the name by combining Shamble (which is the competition format for the day) with the Sand Ridge Golf Club which was chosen as the site for our inaugural event. On Monday, July 23rd – which I think was perhaps the most beautiful day of the summer – 80 golfers and nearly 100 dinner guests – gathered at Sand Ridge for golf, great food, a lot of laughs, and to support One-In-Six. For me, it was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and an immeasurable amount of satisfaction. For my father, it was a chance to see just how much he means to his family and friends. For the Foundation, it was a tremendous financial success. For those that attended, it was a first class event that ended with a unanimous request to do it again next year. I am very pleased to report that the 2nd Annual Shamble At The Ridge will be held Monday, July 28th at Sand Ridge Golf Club. I didn’t necessarily write this to talk about the Shamble – though if you are moved to participate this year we won’t complain. I wrote it to show even if you are someone like me who has historically taken a passive approach to getting involved in “causes” you CAN make a difference. I plan to be involved with One-In-Six for a long time, so long in fact that I look forward to the day when we turn our attention to something else because we defeated prostate cancer. And I know the friend I made will be there leading the way. Carry On! Stay Tough! Kurt Weber Posted by Kurt Weber of Cleveland, Ohio on April 29, 2008 10:00 AM
	Texas Hold 'Em & Taxotere . . . It's been awhile Much has happened since the website was first published. On a personal level, much of 2006 was occupied by chemotherapy and a dose of Taxotere every three weeks from March to December. It did eventually wear me down, but I got through it. In retrospect, it doesn’t seem so bad and now, a year later, the lingering side effects of the chemo are minimal and don’t really bear mentioning. Having gone through chemotherapy, my hope was that most of the cancer would have been killed off. It turns out that chemo was merely a step along the path in this cancer killing journey. Upon completion of chemotherapy in December of 2006, and after long discussions with my doctor at Johns Hopkins, I learned that with my PSA at .2 and no active distant metastasis, Johns Hopkins simply didn’t have any treatments available for me. Clinical trials are simply not designed to treat people who may be ill but are not necessarily at death’s door. Without some active growing cancer that the scientists can measure to see if the experimental drug works as hoped, clinical trials simply are not available to keep the cancer at bay. Frankly, I was most disappointed. It was suggested that I might want to see another doctor in Virginia named Charles Meyers. It turns out that Dr. Meyers has “skin in the game”. He is a well-known oncologist with prostate cancer. He is willing to try the “shot gun” approach and try different treatments and therapies mentioned in the scientific literature without necessarily knowing which one actually works. I visited Dr. Meyers at the beginning of 2006. He suggested to me that I was not in remission with my PSA at .2 and that under treatment protocols that he developed for himself, he wanted to reduce my PSA by a factor of a few hundred percent and then send me off to have radiation at The Dattoli Cancer Center in Sarasota, Florida. Fortunately, I responded quickly to tripling the level hormone therapy I had been on, and my PSA dropped from .2 to .03 in short order. I contacted Dr. Dattoli’s office in Sarasota, and I was off to the radiation races. The scans provided by Dr. Sodee at University Hospitals before I commenced radiation showed that chemotherapy may have reduced the cancer in the prostate and surrounding lymph nodes, but it was still definitely there. Dr. Dattoli was quite adamant about how significant the advances have been in radiation therapy were effective at killing prostate cancer cells without doing too much damage to surrounding areas. It was also essential that I continue with hormone therapy because, for reasons unknown, radiation therapy works much better in combination with hormone therapy. Under Dr. Dattoli’s protocol, the prostate is radiated over a course of eight weeks. Radioactive seeds are introduced a few weeks after the initial round of radiation and then there is follow-up radiation for a couple of weeks thereafter. All of that process took place between May and November of 2006. Frankly, there were more difficult places to be than Sarasota, Florida and seed implementation was no big deal. However, being away from home and my office, was hugely more difficult (and expensive) than I had originally thought. Nevertheless, I treasure my experience in Florida. My family was around me most of the time and it was a wonderful bonding experience for us. Soon after completing radiation, I had another scan with Dr. Sodee. That scan showed no residual cancer. I am still celebrating. It has become my philosophy that good news should be celebrated for as long as bad news brings you down. So the message of this entry is one of hope. I am as optimistic now as I ever have been. I believe we have significantly reduced a tumor burden so that my body’s natural defenses can take over much of the fight against the remaining cancer. Am I out of the woods? Do I still have prostate cancer? Will I make it past five years, ten years, fifteen years? I don’t know the answers to any of those questions. All I know is that I am doing pretty darn well right now. I love life and I love each day added to my life. I have done and will continue to do everything I can do to battle this disease. It is my hope that the One-in-Six Foundation will inspire others to do the same whether they are dealing with prostate cancer, breast cancer or any other kind of cancer. 03/06/2007 Akron 38327 Carry on. Stay tough! Bruce Posted by J Bruce Hunsicker of Akron, OH on March 6, 2007 5:40 PM
	The waiting room . . . I sat impatiently with my wife in the waiting room at the urologist's office. After months and months of mildly irritating symptoms and antibiotics, and an elevated PSA, a needle biopsy of my prostate indicated I had cancer throughout the prostate. At that moment, only days away from the Christmas holiday, I was waiting to hear whether scans indicated that the cancer had spread beyond the prostate. Indeed, it had. The lymph glands were enlarged. Another painful biopsy later, and full swing into the holiday season, I was facing the New Year knowing my life would never be the same due to inoperable metastatic prostate cancer. Shock, grief, fear, anger, disbelief ... I traversed through every emotion, feeling fiercely alone, despite the support and love of my wife. How could this be? I was always stalwart, aggressive, strong, physically and emotionally tolerant of anything that came my way. But now my wonderful life, my wife, my two boys, my work, my normal routine, my future plans were forever changed by this disease. Posted by J. Bruce Hunsicker of Akron, OH on December 12, 2004 9:20 PM