Handling your health

Terry Olsen wouldn’t be alive today if he hadn’t taken responsibility for his own health.

“There’s so few doctors and things are so busy out there, if you don’t take an interest in your own health, you can get sick and maybe it’s too far gone before you can get the medicine you need to get right,” said the local business owner and cancer survivor.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Olsen needed surgery to remove two tumours from one of his kidneys. Today he’s cancer free and is one of eight men participating in this year’s Prostate Man campaign.

If Olsen didn’t see his doctor for regular checkups, he may have found out about his cancer too late.

“For me it was caught early, so I’m here to talk about it,” he said, adding the Prostate Man campaign is vital in letting men know it’s OK to see a doctor.

It’s also important to make lifestyle changes and starting eating healthy and exercising regularly, he said.

“I lost my father when I was 18 years old; he was 40 years old, died from lung cancer,” he said. “People need to change their habits.”

The Prostate Man campaign was started almost 10 years ago and Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation president and CEO Glenn Craig said they’ve come a long way in terms of people’s comfort levels in regards to talking about the disease.

“Still there’s a ways to go, but I think men have used levity to give them permission to talk about their health issues and realize – one in six men in their lifetime will develop prostate cancer – this is pretty serious and needs to be taken so,” he said.

Olsen is accompanied by Matawa First Nations CEO David Paul Achneepineskum, Thunderwolves president Rory Cava and Confederation College’s chef Tim Matthews amongst others for this year’s campaign.

Craig said they choose people who are well known in different industries across the city.
But having more than one Prostate Man is about stressing that it’s not one person’s responsibility to take care of their health; it’s every man’s responsibility.

“If we want to have a good healthy life, we need to be a bit more serious about that,” said Craig.

This year’s Prostate Men are: David Paul Achneepineskum, Rory Cava, Tim Matthews, Terry Olsen, Tom Pazianos, Burt Sellick, Scott Sellick and Bob Stewart.