A Letter to His Friends from Harry Pinchot

Dear friends and supporters,

I know I have talked to many of you on our Helpline, in person at support group meetings, or from the podium or directly at one of our conferences. As fellow fighters in the battle against prostate cancer, every one of you that I have talked with about this disease has become very important to me personally as well as professionally. Now I’d like to take this opportunity to talk to you about the institution that I have devoted my life to for the past ten years - the PCRI. I hope it is important to you as well, and that you will join me in supporting this unique institution.

Here at the PCRI, we have just completed our eighth Prostate Cancer conference, far outpacing any other prostate cancer support organization. This year, for the first time, illness prevented me from attending the conference, but PCRI volunteer Bob Each stepped in and made sure that all the speakers’ presentations were available for viewing. Despite my illness, though, I kept track of the action and I am pleased to find that it went so well. As described to me by Jim O’Hara, a fellow PCRI educational facilitator who played a leading role in organizing the conference, “Comments from the attendees indicated that the event was a great success.”

These unique conferences are regarded as a hallmark of the PCRI, but they are just one of the services the PCRI offers prostate cancer patients like you, by carrying out its mission “to improve the quality of men’s lives by disseminating information that educates and empowers patients, families, and the medical community.” For example, the PCRI has staged several “town hall” meetings around the country to facilitate face-to-face meetings between men with advanced cancer and some of the outstanding physicians and researchers who specialize in this critical, life-threatening area of prostate cancer.

The PCRI Helpline — For men and their families seeking needed information on prostate cancer and its treatment options, this one-on-one dialog can be very valuable. That’s why the PCRI maintains its Helpline, staffed by educational facilitators who “have been there and done that”. By telephone and/or e-mail, we answer questions, supply information, and in general provide the support many callers need and can’t readily get any other way.

The PCRI Website — Backing up the Helpline staff is perhaps the most comprehensive website (www.pcri.org) in the entire prostate cancer community. As highlighted in the May 2007 issue of Insights, patients, their families, and their physicians can access a host of comprehensive information on our disease. Among these are:

• Videos
• News updates
• Recent clinical trial information
• Upcoming event alerts
• Articles from Insights
• A very comprehensive glossary
• Order information on DVDs and publications provided at no cost, and
• A search feature to make all this information easy to find.

Insights — In addition, there is the PCRI’s quarterly publication, Insights, that provides subscribers like you with the developments and ideas of top prostate cancer experts from all over the country. In-depth articles describe and explain developments that can be of immediate interest and benefit to men battling prostate cancer. In effect, readers have received direct input from such prostate cancer specialists as Snuffy Myers M.D., Ralph deVere White M.D., Jeffrey Demanes M.D., Oliver Sartor M.D., John Blasco M.D., Gary Leach M.D., Duke Bahn M.D., Stanley Brosman M.D., and, of course, the PCRI’s co-founders, Stephen Strum M.D. and Mark Scholz M.D..

Our Services are Offered at no cost — All of these services cost money to deliver, but the PCRI long ago decided not to charge for them. The co-founders reasoned that many prostate cancer patients are financially strapped by the high costs of treatment and pharmaceuticals, and might decide they couldn’t also afford the flow of information the PCRI offers, even though it could well be critical to their battle against prostate cancer. So no one is charged for Insights, our web site or our Helpline services.

How can the PCRI survive, given the huge expenses incurred in developing this flow of information and disseminating it to the men who need it, whatever their financial situation?

The answer is that we rely upon those in the prostate cancer community who can afford to donate. Prostate cancer patients, their wives, their children, their friends, and other concerned people have donated generously, according to ability, from ten dollars to thousands of dollars. I personally know many of you, and value our friendship. I know that you have helped to provide the lifeblood of the PCRI. And now I must appeal to you once more. Will you support the PCRI and its work with whatever donation you can afford? Not only will my colleagues and I be most indebted to you, but so will all those men who will benefit from the services we will be able to continue to give them. (You can donate now).

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Gratefully,
Harry Pinchot
PCRI Program Director
November 2007

 

 

Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI)
 

Material provided by PCRI is intended for educational purposes for discussion with your physician and should not be considered as medical advice. Information and opinions expressed on this website are not an endorsement by PCRI for any treatment, product or service.