Ernie Strauss and Ron Wakefield didn’t plan to become advocates. But after surviving prostate cancer, they can’t stay silent.
One delayed having a physical for more than a decade. The other caught his cancer early.
Today, both men are sharing their stories — not to dwell on the past, but to push other men to take a potentially life-saving blood test.
They met through Northside Hospital’s patient navigation program. Since then, their personal journeys have inspired them to offer encouragement, practical advice, and an urgent reminder to men: Prostate cancer is common, treatable, and often caught too late.
‘I messed up’
At 46, Strauss hadn’t had a physical in 13 years when his body suddenly locked up during a buddy’s camping trip on his farm in Dawson County. He chalked it up to dehydration, but when it happened again the next morning, a close friend and camping buddy drove him home. He waited another two weeks before going to the doctor.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta
Credit: Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta
The diagnosis: prostate cancer.
“I messed up,” said Strauss, the son and brother of nurses. “I just don’t like going to the doctors, and that’s a problem with me.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta
Credit: Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta
Doctors recommended surgery in March 2022, but COVID backlogs pushed it to October. He dealt with the side effects of surgery, including nighttime incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
About a year later, his PSA levels, a measure of prostate cancer, began rising again. That led to 35 rounds of radiation.
With his dad at his side, he rang the bell to mark the end of his radiation treatment just weeks ago.
“I’m upward and onward,” he said. “We’re just going to keep moving.”
Credit: Photos courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta
Credit: Photos courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta
Strauss, a Georgia Tech grad working in finance, and his wife now spend weekends on their working farm in Dawsonville.
They invite students from the local chapter of Future Farmers of America to the farm to learn how to show their cows, something Strauss hopes will one day inspire the students to be part of rebuilding the nation’s agriculture industry.
He’s also made time for a new kind of mission.
Guided by faith
Wakefield, 65, a native of Jamaica and longtime state administrator, brings a different perspective to the men’s shared mission.
“I am one person who truly believes in having my annual physical and making any follow-ups,” said Wakefield, executive director of the state’s Division of Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities.
In October 2022, he had a PSA test — a simple blood test that can detect prostate cancer early by measuring prostate-specific antigen levels. A biopsy confirmed a fast-growing tumor, and he had robotic surgery three months later.
“I didn’t panic,” he said. “I truly believe God has got me. Whatever I’m going to go through, he’s going to be with me, and my wife felt the same way.”
The cancer was removed, but side effects — including erectile dysfunction and yearlong nighttime incontinence — followed.
“There’s a sense of hope things will start working again,” Wakefield said. “There’s a sense of disappointment when it doesn’t happen. But then you can’t stay there. You have to say, What’s my next step?”
Sharing what they wish they’d known
Wakefield was open with colleagues and staff about his diagnosis and recovery. One of them approached him after a staff meeting and revealed he’d had the same surgery 18 months earlier.
“He became a mentor to me as I went through the process. He told me what I was going to experience, and I knew the value of that,” Wakefield said. “That’s my commitment now — to do the same for others.”
Strauss, too, has made himself available — especially for men who want to talk about the emotional roller coaster that’s part of the journey.
“I give people my number and tell them they can call any time, even just to vent,” he said.
Both men serve on a Northside Hospital advisory board focused on cancer care. They are also members of Georgia Cancer’s prostate cancer support group, as well as a spinoff group they organized that meets monthly for dinner.
They say those peer connections can offer insights that doctors can’t always provide.
“Support groups may have answers that doctors do not,” Strauss said. “They are not the ones going through the actual treatment.”
What they want men to know
Both men now encourage others to begin PSA testing at age 45 — earlier if they are at high risk — and to treat prostate cancer like any other health issue: not something to hide or fear, but something to manage early and honestly.
Wakefield recently learned a close friend had been through prostate cancer two years earlier — but never mentioned it.
“It just goes to show men really don’t want to talk about this,” he said.
The mission may be informal, but it’s serious.
Strauss wants men, especially in his age group, to accept that “they’re not indestructible.
“They need to go to their doctor, have the hard conversations, and then find a support group if needed.”
Prostate Cancer Symptoms
Most men with prostate cancer have no symptoms. However, some men experience:
• Frequent urination
• Trouble urinating
• Blood in urine or semen
Pain in the back, hips, or pelvis.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
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