Windsor’s mayor has revealed that he’s battling prostate cancer.

Drew Dilkens is scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday, September 9, to have his prostate gland removed as part of his treatment.

The 53-year-old Dilkens has been monitoring his prostate health for several years now, due to family health history, getting regular blood tests that look at Prostate-Specific Antigen, or PSA, for indicators of prostate cancer.

Dilkens says when he went for his annual physical, his family doctor checked the box to get a PSA test.

“Thank God he did that because I have no signs or symptoms. I would not know I had cancer but for the fact my family doctor checked that box and got a baseline number for me three years ago,” he says.

Earlier this summer, those tests indicated his PSA number was rising, and his doctor ordered an MRI, which revealed a growth on his prostate that required a biopsy.

It was that biopsy that determined he has prostate cancer.

Dilkens says he is super lucky because this was caught early and the prognosis is excellent, but it was a bit of an out-of-body experience when he first got the news.

“Me? Especially if I don’t feel anything, right? Are you sure? Yeah, the results show that you do. Right away I moved into second gear. What do I have to do? How do I get to the other side of this? For me, I just wanted to figure out what the treatment plan was; let’s get to the other side and get back to business as soon as possible,” he says.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, prostate cancer can be treated several ways, including active surveillance, surgery, or radiation therapy. Dilkens is moving forward with the surgical option.

The mayor’s health battle comes as September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

 

The Canadian Cancer Society reports that 27,900 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. This represents 22 per cent of all new cancer cases in men in 2024.

Dilkens says this is a speed bump on the road of life.

“We’ll get to the other side of it. My family is fantastic; my physicians are fantastic. We’ve got great equipment. I’m one of 30,000 guys in Canada who are going to receive this diagnosis this year. I just have to deal with it,” he says.

Dilkens is telling every man in the community to talk to your doctors and get tested.

“Ask them to check that box because if the number comes back and it’s zero, you’re going to sleep like a baby,” he says. “If it comes higher than zero, you’re going to say, ‘Ok, I better take some other action.'”

While he undergoes surgery and recovers in the hospital, Dilkens will delegate his mayoral authority to Ward 6 Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac from September 9 to 11. He will be spending a few days in the hospital post-surgery, followed by a few weeks of recovery at home, where he plans to continue his duties as mayor.

The surgery will be performed using a da Vinci robot at a hospital in London. While Windsor has similar facilities, Dilkens will have the surgery performed in London on the advice of his doctor due to privacy issues given his position in the city.

The Windsor urologist who had been treating Dilkens before and during his prostate cancer diagnosis calls the disease ‘the silent killer.’

Dr. Raj Goel says when it comes to prostate cancer, as men, we wait for symptoms to appear. Unfortunately, prostate cancer is very often asymptomatic, so patients don’t notice any symptoms.

Goel says the mayor was very aggressive in staying on top of things and proactive testing.

“We caught it at an early stage, so I would expect nothing but positive things going forward. As long as, from a functional standpoint, incontinence is minimized, and from a cancer control standpoint, I expect good things as well,” he says.

Goel says it’s important to get a prostate-specific antigen screening, or PSA; a simple blood test can help pick up the disease much sooner.

The typical prostate cancer screening should start at the age of 50, but if you have a positive family history of a first-degree relative who has been diagnosed, that screening can start as early as 45.

Dr. Goel says most men do develop prostate cancer in their lifetime.

“It’s not like eating too much red meat causes prostate cancer or playing hockey will avoid prostate cancer. Unfortunately, it tends to be a disease that can inflict the healthiest or unhealthiest of men,” he says.

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that about 1 in 8 Canadian men will develop prostate cancer during their lifetime and 1 in 30 will die from it.