Yolo County SupervisorMichael
McGowan told the News-Ledger last week that the September 13 supervisors’
meeting was going to have special significance to him – for a couple of
reasons.
McGowan was recovering from prostate cancer
surgery (successful) and from a life-threatening infection that developed
afterward and sent him back to the intensive care unit.
“Tuesday the 13th, we’re going to
do a resolution recognizing September as prostate cancer awareness month,” said
McGowan. “We’ve done this for several years, and for some reason, I’ve been the
board member who handled it the last couple of years. This year, it’s a bit
more poignant – in June, I had prostate cancer surgery. Coincidentally, it will
also be my first day back to work on the 13th.”
Mike McGowan, supervisor for Yolo County's first district: he hopes to give other men some incentive to keep up with their medical tests, and catch prostate cancer early, while it's almost 100 percent curable. (News-Ledger file photo)
The illness gave him a roller-coaster ride.
“It went from the good news that they got all
the cancer out, to the bad news that I had a secondary infection and had to go
to the hospital for one or two more weeks. I was taken out of my home in a
stretcher, and some of our firefighters told me ‘you’re a very sick man.’”
“I want people to know I’m fine – I’m back in
the saddle,” he said last week. “More importantly, I’m an example that if you
see your doctor and you take the tests on schedule, you’ve got a really good
chance of coming out fine. Guys have a tendency to sort of put these things
off.”
McGowan said men should talk to their doctor
about prostate cancer.
“I want to highlight the fact that guys ‘of a
certain age’ should start taking their annual physical and PSA blood tests
seriously. If they do catch this cancer in an early stage, it’s just about 100
percent curable. If you wait until it spreads to other parts of the body,
you’re down to about one-third.”
The illnesses took some weight and strength
off the West Sacramento resident. But he’s getting active again.
“It was an ‘unplanned diet.’ I still take it
easy, but I am getting stronger. I’m walking about three and a half miles a
day.”
Yesterday, he was scheduled to present the
county’s resolution on prostate cancer awareness – to some familiar faces who
would be receiving it.
“I’ll be giving the resolution to some of the
guys from the UC Davis Medical Center cancer unit,” he said.
McGowan is married (to wife Sue). He is a
former West Sacramento city councilman, and was the city’s first mayor after it
incorporated in 1987.
