Ben Stiller revealed that he battled prostate cancer in 2014, and he credits the test that diagnosed the cancer with saving his life.
In an essay posted on the website Medium, Stiller recounted his experience with prostate cancer in detail. He compared the moment of being informed by his urologist that he had cancer to his own Breaking Bad scene.
"His voice literally faded out like every movie or TV show about a guy being told he had cancer ... a classic Walter White moment, except I was me and no one was filming anything at all," wrote Stiller.
So, I had cancer a couple of years ago and I wanted to talk about it. And the test that saved my life. https://t.co/KWirBcRZ7D
— Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) October 4, 2016
Stiller is now cancer-free and he believes that would never have happened without a PSA or prostate-specific antigen test. Stiller said he wanted to tell his story in support of the much-debated test.
Stiller had his PSA test when he was 46, four years before the American Cancer Society recommends. Many experts say a PSA can do as much harm as good. PSA tests are imprecise, and they can lead to unnecessary treatment of nonlethal cancers.
But PSA tests can be a useful early indicator of prostate cancer, which affects one in six men. The American Cancer Society recommends men discuss the test with their doctor at age 50, though those with higher risk for prostate cancer should start the discussion earlier.
In Stiller's case, he was given a PSA test for more than a year and a half. As his numbers rose, Stiller was sent to a urologist for examination, then given an MRI and eventually a biopsy that came back positive.
While processing the news, he said he started Googling men who had faced prostate cancer and survived: John Kerry, Jon Torre, Mandy Matinkin, Robert DeNiro.
"As I learned more about my disease (one of the key learnings is not to Google "people who died of prostate cancer" immediately after being diagnosed with prostate cancer), I was able to wrap my head around the fact that I was incredibly fortunate," he wrote.
"Fortunate because my cancer was detected early enough to treat. And also because my internist gave me a test he didn't have to.
"I got diagnosed with prostate cancer Friday, June 13th, 2014. On September 17th of that year I got a test back telling me I was cancer free. The three months in between were a crazy rollercoaster ride with which about 180,000 men a year in America can identify.
"This is a complicated issue, and an evolving one," Stiller wrote. "But in this imperfect world, I believe the best way to determine a course of action for the most treatable, yet deadly cancer, is to detect it early."
Stiller led the essay with a photo of himself, in a famously painful encounter with a pants zipper, from There's Something About Mary.
• For more information about prostate cancer and treatment in New Zealand visit prostate.org.nz.
