By Maore Ithula

When a doctor revealed the "worst and most devastating" news to a leading media consultant Jerry Okungu, he felt as if a death sentence had been passed on him.

He became numb for a few hours and when he came back to his senses, many thoughts crossed his mind.

"First was suicide. But that was out of the question because that would be a cowardly action. In any case, death was staring me in the eye whichever way. Then I thought of my family, relatives and friends and how they would fair without me. It was unimaginable," he recalled.

Speaking to The Standard, Okungu revealed how he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last May and the effects the disease has had on his life, family and relatives and how he is managing it.

He said: "It started slowly and I did not suspect anything was wrong. First my short calls progressively grew really short and far apart. At night, particularly, I would go to the urinal up to five times. Then it became a little hard to pass urine and stool."

After these difficulties, Okungu sought medical attention several times at MP Shah Hospital.

Three months after visiting the doctor, his condition grew from bad to worse. He had no appetite and he was always feeling tired and he lost 30 kilogrammes in three months.

He was also in and out of hospital.

Then the final test was conducted and a bombshell was dropped.

He recollected: "My doctor said I had prostate cancer and the disease had affected the functions of many important organs in my body. Nevertheless, he said, there was a chance for me to live a little longer by managing the disease without resorting to neither surgery, chemo or radio-therapy."

Doctors informed him the cancer cells had already metastasised (spread) from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes.

He called his wife who was abroad then, and later his children in the descending order of their ages.

All were equally devastated. They cried while others mourned as if he had already passed on.

Friends and relatives were dumbfounded.

Many remained speechless for long at the end of the line when he called them with the bad news.

Stream of urine

So far, he said his team of doctors have been very helpful.

He is now on hormonal therapy where he is receiving injections containing hormones that help to deny the cancerous cells in his body the food they require in form of hormones.

"I have been reading thoroughly on this subject and just as my doctors have been telling me, I have discovered that the injections I’m getting are meant to decrease the production of some hormones that the cancer cells feed on. This way they just starve to death," he said.

He took the first two injections in May, another in June and he will be taking one after every three months for as long as the condition lasts.

Early prostate cancer usually has no symptoms.

Often, it is diagnosed during a routine check-up.

But sometimes it has some symptoms that are often similar to those of diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlargement of the prostate).

These include frequent urination, nocturia (increased urination at night), difficulty starting and maintaining a steady stream of urine, hematuria (blood in the urine), and dysuria (painful urination).

Prostate cancer is associated with urinary dysfunction as the prostate gland surrounds the prostatic urethra.

Changes within the gland, therefore, directly affect urinary function.

Because the vas deferens deposits seminal fluid into the prostatic urethra, and secretions from the prostate gland itself are included in semen content, prostate cancer may also cause problems with sexual function and performance.