Congressman Elijah E. Cummings Proudly Representing Maryland's 7th District

Last Sunday was a day to express gratitude to America’s fathers. For the fortunate among us, it also was a time to offer silent prayers that these special men would continue to remain healthy and strong for many Father’s Days to come.

The millions of American families who celebrated Father’s Day with Dad at the ballpark this year – or by coming together to watch the baseball game on television – saw something unexpected. Blue ribbons were attached to the bases; and the players were wearing blue bands on their wrists and their arms.

These blue ribbons were also a prayer of sorts – a prayer for health and survival that every man has the power to grant.

Major League Baseball and Gillette were doing their part to remind all of us that early detection is the most effective defense against prostate cancer.

Mr. Ozzie Smith is the main spokesman for baseball’s prostate cancer detection campaign. The Hall of Fame former shortstop should know something about the importance of a solid defense. During his baseball career, he was awarded 13 “Gold Gloves.”

Now, Ozzie Smith is picking up the ball in the national campaign to encourage men who are older than 40 to protect themselves and those they love by undergoing the simple, quick and painless screening tests for prostate cancer each year.

“There are so many people who have been affected,” Mr. Smith recently explained to the Associated Press. “It touches all of our lives at some point in time.”

As a player, Ozzie Smith’s throwing was always right on the mark. His warnings about the danger of prostate cancer are just as accurate today.

The National Cancer Institute reminds us that, nationwide, prostate cancer will attack more than 200,000 American men this year – and nearly 31,000 of these men will be Black.

African American men are suffering disproportionately from the disease: our incidence rate of contracting prostate cancer is 60 percent higher than the rate for Caucasians.

Tragically, although prostate cancer can be beaten if discovered at an early stage, Black men are more than 2.4 times more likely than Whites to die.

Why? The answer to this compelling question is complex and not entirely understood. However, one important mortality factor is tragically clear.

Black men, as a whole, are not doing all that we can to protect our lives.

Consider this. Nearly 100 percent of African American men diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer are still alive after five years – while fewer than 30 percent of those who are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease survive.

Before inexpensive early detection tests (like the simple PSA test) were widely available, about three-fourths of all prostate cancer cases remained undiscovered until the late, far more deadly stages.

Now, however, with the wider availability of simple screening procedures, nearly 90 percent of prostate cancer cases in African American men are found at an early stage (before the cancer has already spread beyond the prostate to the rest of the body).

There are no noticeable symptoms of prostate cancer while it is still in the early stages – but that is the critical time to discover and treat the disease. That is why annual screening tests are crucial for men over 45.

Early screening with the tests that are now available is a simple, painless way to fight the threat of prostate cancer – something that all men can and should do.

As a nation, however, we must do more.

We must acknowledge that the state of prostate cancer care is decades behind what it should be. We need more accurate technology and more reliable weapons in the fight against prostate cancer – including tools like digital imaging.

A recent study funded by the National Cancer Institute revealed that PSA blood screening tests are not always completely accurate. The study found that as many as 15 percent of men with normal PSA levels nevertheless have prostate cancer.

We need to continue seeking new technologies. That is why I have introduced House Resolution 863, which calls for an increased federal commitment to the development of technologies that will be more accurate and less invasive than the medical procedures that currently are available.

For example, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University are working to improve the early detection of prostate cancer through high-technology prostate imaging approaches similar to the digital technology now being used in the parallel fight against breast cancer.

Take it from Hall of Fame defensive star Ozzie Smith — life, like baseball, is a contest best won by developing an air-tight defense against the most dangerous threats.

We are all in this fight together to win a blue ribbon for health. Prostate cancer is a killer – but one that can be beaten if the threat is discovered in time.