“It stops you in your tracks, for sure. I mean, as a kid, when you go back to the days when I was a kid and you heard cancer, it was a death sentence. It was the worst possible news you could hear,” said Mr. Ripken.
Ripken, who recently turned 60, was diagnosed with prostate cancer just as the coronavirus pandemic was starting to set in.
Fortunately, the prostate cancer was caught early and Mr. Ripken was able to undergo surgery at Johns Hopkins, but was able to avoid both radiation and chemotherapy.
Because it was very early in the process, Mr. Ripken felt that surgery was the right answer. “It was a great ending, it was all contained in the prostate, it’s all gone. I’m cancer-free and basically resumed normal activities as I always did,” says Ripken.
At first, Mr. Ripken chose to remain very private about his diagnosis and he didn’t tell anyone. But then as time went on, he changed his mind because he wanted to encourage men to get their physicals.
It is very important for men to get regular checkups because catching prostate cancer early is key. If it is caught early prostate cancer is very treatable. And checking for prostate cancer is easy.