January 2010, my father James "Rudy" Muckelvene was diagnosed with stage IV Prostate Cancer. After numerous surgeries to assist in mending the damage done to his bones by this disease, cancer continued to break my father's body down.

 

On my parent's 38th wedding anniversary (August 20, 2010) we were told that it (cancer) morphed into a more aggressive form by the name of, "Sarcomatoid Carcinoma of the Prostate". We were also informed that he had less than 6 months to live.

 

We refused to believe we would lose him and fought desperately to keep him alive...

 

Four short months later, cancer took his life.. My mother lost her husband... My sisters and I, lost our father... Our children lost their grandfather... He was 58 years old. 

 

This is a story of a dedicated husband, father, and man who fought a painful battle against cancer, and his wife, (my mother) who never left his side.

 

They say a person dies two deaths, one when he leaves this earth and another when the last person who remembers him dies and is no longer here to speak of him. I have never been able to accept my father's passing and with these photographs, I wish not only to keep his memory alive but to inspire men (and women) everywhere to take Prostate Cancer seriously. 

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Prostate Cancer Resources:

• Zero Cancer

• Us Too (Black Men)

 

*Black men are more likely to get prostate cancer in general and at a younger age than other ethnicities, and twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than other men.