ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — African-American men are 60 times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than white men. However, the small staff behind a one-of-a kind education and information center is working to reduce that number. The Empowerment Network was co-founded 11 years ago by Mellve Shahid Sr., a 12 year prostate cancer survivor and the late Isadore M. Wayne Sr.
Shahid remembers getting diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 2007. He says he was given two years to live.
"On the operating table, I begged for my life, I asked God to give me a second chance and extend my life and if he did that for me, I would dedicate the rest of my life to educating men in the community about prostate cancer," Shahid said.
Since it's founding, 11 years ago, the Empowerment Network has helped over 500 African-American men facing prostate cancer through support groups, mental health, music therapy and even a prayer team made up of Prostate Cancer survivors.
"When a man goes through a prostate cancer surgery, our prayer team is there at the hospital as early at 4:30 in the morning. We are praying with a man and his family. We are supporting a man and his family. We are empowering a man and his family because that man is about to go fight for his life on an operating table."
The Empowerment Network also gives each man an after-surgery kit.
"Because when he goes home, he goes home with a catheter and he's going to be tied to his home for maybe two weeks. The kit has bed liners, depends, even toothpaste and mouthwash. We give them a bible and we've added a beautiful robe and a pair of house shoes."
The non-profit also promotes early detection with a goal of reaching a hundred thousand men with information each year. Empowerment Network Executive Director, former state Sen. Robin Wright-Jones said they are pushing to get state recognition on the same level as the Show Me Healthy Women program in the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. She said legislation would increase state funding for early detection and awareness.
"Prostate Cancer Awareness month was proclaimed on a federal level when President Barack Obama was in office, but that hasn't happened since he left office," Wright-Jones said.
However, she said then-Lt. Gov. Mike Parson did join the effort to proclaim Prostate Cancer Awareness Month on a state level last year.
Shahid adds, "The health of the human spirit, you know it cannot be repaired in an operating room. it's broken and wounded. I tell a lot of the doctors who sit on our board that after they finish cutting and radiating a man, they send him home wounded, he needs support, he needs love, he needs encouragement."
Click here for more information about The Empowerment Network.