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False positive less harmful than cancer

Re: “Annual prostate-cancer screening has little benefit,” opinion, Sept. 6. Impressive set of statistics. But people are more than statistics.

Re: “Annual prostate-cancer screening has little benefit,” opinion, Sept. 6.

Impressive set of statistics. But people are more than statistics. Although I am not a male, if I am the person early cancer detection might have helped, I want to be given the chance to be that person.

I experienced a false positive several years ago. Yes, it ruined a few weeks for me until further tests revealed nothing. I would gladly go through that experience again to have the chance of catching something early if it was actually there. For me, the “major harms” of a false positive are much less traumatic than the major harms of not finding a deadly disease in time to do anything about it. I will continue with my own checkups, and I will continue to natter at the important men in my life to attend to theirs.

Just the point of view of a living person, not a statistic.

Kathleen Worth

Victoria