Like father, like son: John Mack and Tony Mack are beating the odds

WHEN John Mack, head of the Los Angeles Urban League, finally was able to schedule his annual physical examination in 1998, he made a mental note to let the doctor know he had "a little bug."

It was no big deal to him, but he figured since he was 61 it was best to bring up every ailment, large and small.

What he thought was "a little bug" turned out to be prostate cancer." My PSA (prostate specific antigen) count was in the danger zone," he recalls." I went in to see the urologist, and it was confirmed that I did have prostate cancer."

While that was a shock and surprise, what came a few years later was even more stunning.

His 41-year-old son Tony was also diagnosed with prostate cancer. Tony's PSA level went from the moderate level to extreme in a matter of two months.

Topping that off, after dealing with their own cancers, father and son found out that John Mack's older brother, Thomas, also was victimized by the disease last year.

In Tony's case, the cancer was the most aggressive of all three men." Mine was so aggressive that my doctor said we needed to [operate] right away," he says, pointing out that doctors say the condition becomes more aggressive from one generation to the next. "You can expect a much more radical and aggressive cancer than the previous person who had it, my father in this case."

Mack, now 68, has experienced many surprises in his life, but his son ending up with prostate cancer was one of the biggest ever.

"When Tony was diagnosed, it really blew my mind" Mack says. "Conventional wisdom says you don't have to address it until age 50. That's when doctors encourage men to get checked. When it hit Tony, it confirmed to me that there's a genetic link."

Although he was stunned by his son's condition, Mack said his own successful battle helped prepare him for dealing with his son's dilemma.

Even before Tony's detection, father and son had done numerous public service announcements for print media and local television stations about the dangers of prostate cancer to Black men.

Mack is stepping down this summer after 36 years as director of the L.A. Urban League. His has been a seven-day-a-week job. Even when he found out that he had prostate cancer, he put off dealing with it for a while. For him, hearing that he had cancer made him want to wait until someone woke him up and told him it was all a bad dream.

"I was operating in denial, hoping it was a bad dream. Bad test. Bad call," he now says. "But my doctor and my wife stayed on me. She was angry that I didn't deal with it the very next day."

Tony, a Los Angeles restaurant manager, easily understood why his father delayed dealing with the disease.

"When you get the news about "the Big C,' something goes through your mind. What's the next step? You have to figure out which treatment is best."

After speaking with his doctor and his wife, Tony immediately called his father for consultation.

The elder Mack chose radiation for his slow-growing cancer while Tony chose surgery. Thomas Mack after consulting with his brother, chose brachytherapy, a type of radiation therapy where the radiation "seed" is strategically placed within the prostate gland or as close as possible to the tumor.

Dr. Roger Peeks, medical director at the Martin Luther King] Charles Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, says all three options have their benefits, depending on the patient's needs.

"[Radioactive] seeding is just injecting radioactive seeds into the local area to reduce the cancer," Peeks says. "It's similar to radiation therapy. Most of the side effects go away. Bowel irritation can result from the treatments as well as incontinence. Incontinence and impotence can continue while the other side effects go away." He says most of those who chose surgery have been aided by the advent of Viagra, which enables them to resume healthy sex lives.

For both Macks, the primary focus now is to get the message out to as many Black men as they can about annual exams.

"A lot of Brothers don't want anyone probing or touching their bodies," Mack says, shaking his head as he looks out from his spacious office in the Crenshaw District of L.A." They have to know that it's not going to change them. If you're a man, you're still a man. Medical science has advanced so much since I had my cancer, and these myths about losing sexual prowess need to be exploded. It's not a myth that they will lose their lives if they don't get checked."

After the development of cancer, both men have examined their diets and made necessary lifestyle changes.

For Tony, there was not much to change. He is a cross-country runner who is in excellent health and has a healthy diet. He also periodically cleanses his system.

His dad, however, had to make some major changes. "I'm a Southern boy," Mack says. "I ate a whole lot of greasy food while I was growing up--fried, greasy food."