How Research Saved a Retirement

Dear Friend,

In December 2024, Barry learned he had aggressive prostate cancer. He was 59, and he had just retired a week earlier, ready to begin the next chapter of his life.

He had surgery, and as he remembers it, “I hoped that would be the end of it. It wasn’t.” His PSA never dropped to undetectable, which meant some of the cancer was still there. A newer, more sensitive PSMA PET imaging scan found it again, this time in his perirectum.

For the first time, his treatment team could see exactly what they were up against, and they had a plan. They targeted the cancer with radiation, and Barry started taking hormone therapy plus a medicine called enzalutamide to go after any cancer cells that remained in his body.

What Barry didn’t know then was that the Prostate Cancer Foundation helped make both of those breakthroughs possible. PCF funded the earliest studies of PSMA, the protein his scans relied on, and the early development of enzalutamide by Dr. Charles Sawyers at UCLA.

At PCF’s recent Scientific Retreat, Barry got to meet Dr. Sawyers. He brought along his own box of enzalutamide, the medicine his doctors used to go after the cancer left in his body, and Dr. Sawyers signed it.

Today, Barry is enjoying his retirement. He has taken up acting and spends his days with his family and community. “Research gave me that chance,” he says. Funding research, he adds, “is how we give the next patient a longer, better life, and maybe even a cure.”

Every family hopes for more time together, and no one knows how much they’ll have. This National Estate Planning Awareness Week, which ends Sunday, October 25, make sure the people and causes you love are protected. PCF has partnered with FreeWill, a free online tool that helps you create your will or trust in about 20 minutes.

Create my free will

After you’ve cared for your loved ones, you can choose to extend your powerful impact with PCF through a planned gift that costs you nothing today. Even a small percentage of your estate can continue to help fund the research that gives another family what Barry’s family has now: more time together.

Thank you for standing with the fathers, husbands, and sons who are counting on research like this, today and for generations to come. If you have any questions about this resource or planned giving, please contact Camrin Christensen at [email protected].

With gratitude,

Lori Tessel
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Prostate Cancer Foundation

P.S. Already included PCF in your estate plans? We’d love to know. Please fill out this quick form so we can properly thank you and welcome you to our community of legacy donors.