The second leg of my National Prostate Cancer Awareness Tour is slated for tomorrow night in Atlanta, Georgia. It takes place at Atlanta's Temple Sinai, a Reform Jewish synagogue led by my colleague, Rabbi Ron Siegel.
It's important to note that while the event will be hosted by a leading Atlanta synagogue, this is a grassroots, interfaith event involving some twenty Atlanta synagogues and churches, community centers and a couple of Atlanta's Us TOO prostate cancer support and education group chapters.
Among those helping us promote the Tour in Atlanta are two of that city's mega-churches, - the biggest in Georgia and among the top three per cent of the United States' largest spiritual centers.In fact one of my co-presenters, actor Kevin Byrd, was invited to announce the program yesterday at one church with 10,000 people in attendance!
Kevin spoke for nearly five minutes as he held up my book, Conquer Prostate Cancer, in front of a bank of TV cameras. Later on he found out that millions of people in nine countries were also watching! So now we've taken the work of raising prostate cancer awareness to new, international heights!
As with the kick-off of our Tour a month ago at another Temple Sinai,-in Sarasota, Florida, Kevin will begin the program by talking about his grandfather who died of prostate cancer five years ago. That's what inspired Kevin to learn more about this disease and to establish the Brown/Byrd Prostate Cancer Foundation. Then Kevin will perform a scene about the struggles of a man with prostate cancer, taken from his six-act play, "Release."
Prominent Atlanta urologist, Dr. Carl Cavelouto, will speak next, "subbing" for Dr. Robert Carey, my book's contributing author, who won't be available due to his busy Sarasota medical practice. Dr. Cavelouto comes to us with impressive credentials as a senior partner of a large urology practice in Atlanta. He will talk about what men and women need to know about that disease. He will also describe how doctors and patients can and should communicate more effectively when dealing with urological and sexual dysfunction.
Apart from "MC-ing" the proceedings, I'll be the third speaker. I'll describe how men, and the women who love them, can recover more effectively from prostate cancer and its treatment after-effects such as ED, incontinence, pain or stress. I plan to offer steps needed to increase sexual intimacy, as well as illustrate how humor and faith can get people through illnesses like this.
In some ways our presentation is a form of "edutainment". Our goal is to fully engage our diverse audience of men and women in their forties, fifties, sixties and over. Toward that end we'll make sure to address our audience's questions, no matter how technical or personal.
As a sidelight, we expect some media to be present, including a camera crew from Atlanta's leading TV channel. That way, whether folks are at the temple or not, they'll be sure to get the complete picture!
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