Basketball legend Monroe talks about prostate health

Karen Matthews

Mention the name Earl Monroe, and most old-school basketball connoisseurs will go on and on about the NBA great that was once called “Black Jesus.”

Nowadays, the “Pearl” is still traveling from city to city, but instead of giving lessons on basketball, he is talking about prostate cancer.

Monroe, 61, is scheduled on Thursday to visit Dorchester’s Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center to discuss benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as an enlarged prostate, a condition that may cause frequent nighttime trips to the bathroom, as well as other urinary symptoms that can interfere with daily routines.

Like half of men over 50, Monroe has BPH — and, like most men, he mistakenly thought that BPH symptoms were something that had to be tolerated as a part of getting older. He put up with his symptoms for years before finally consulting a doctor.

In general, men run a 1-in-6 chance of developing prostate cancer at some point in their lives. It is the most common non-skin cancer among men in this country and the third most deadly. More than 234,000 new cases are expected this year in the United States, with about 27,000 deaths.

For unknown reasons, African American men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world. According to the National Cancer Institute, from 1998-2002, the rate of new cases of prostate cancer was 272 per 100,000 males for black men versus 169 for whites. Death rates from the disease were 68.1 for blacks and 27.2 for whites, a difference of 250 percent.

By using his own experience, Monroe is expected to close the information gap. Monroe will talk about the One Week Challenge, a national campaign aimed at helping men to better understand BPH, and to encourage men to take charge of their overall health with regular checkups. 

 Monroe will also talk about working with a physician to identify BPH symptoms and rule out other conditions, such as prostate cancer, that may have similar symptoms.

The prostate has two growth periods. It grows to about the size of a walnut during the male’s sexual maturation, and often grows again in the fourth or fifth decade. Most men in this country over the age of 50 will experience some symptoms from prostate growth. The growth itself is not an indicator of cancer. Men commonly experience a benign non-cancerous growth of the prostate called benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH. BPH is not cancer. It does not spread to other parts of the body or other organs.

The Harvard Street health clinic is on 632 Blue Hill Avenue and the event is scheduled to start at noon.