Patient's
partner became an activist, then an author
Dick
Knepper's prostate is becoming famous, not by name but by association.
The Milwaukee
man's partner, Donna Pogliano, has co-written a new book with a California doctor
that's intended as an easy-to-understand guide for patients newly diagnosed with
prostate cancer.
Knepper had just returned from a 1,600-mile, 21-day bicycle trip to Florida to celebrate
his 70th birthday when he learned of his disease. Pogliano, an agent for the Wisconsin
Department of Revenue, scoured the Internet, read books and quizzed doctors and others in
a frantic effort to learn as much about treatment options as possible.
Knepper
chose radiation seed implants to treat his cancer. He's now 73 and has no sign
of cancer, Pogliano said.
She became a prostate cancer activist and helped
campaign in 2000 to get September declared Prostate Cancer Awareness month. She
earned an award from the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, a group based in
Washington, D.C., that includes the American Cancer Society, the American Urologic
Association, advocacy groups, and patients and their families.
In
the process, Pogliano became acquainted with Stephen B. Strum, a cancer specialist
in California, through his Web site, www.prostate-cancer.org. On the site, Strum
answers questions.
"I had been reading his messages on that list
for about a year before I actually phoned him" and asked if he'd be interested
in collaborating on a book, Pogliano said.
The
result is A Primer on Prostate Cancer (Life Extension Foundation, $28.95).
It's available locally at Borders, on the Web through the foundation at www.lefprostate.org
- and from Amazon.com, which also is marketing it in a package deal with a long-standing,
top-selling book - Dr. Patrick Walsh's Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer
(Warner Books, August 2001).
Walsh is a Johns Hopkins University surgeon
who pioneered nerve-sparing prostate removal surgery in the 1980s.
-
Marilynn Marchione
A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel on Jan. 27, 2003
