SEPTEMBER 23, 1997

TO: THE UNITED STATES SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING

FROM: BOB WATSON, VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF

THE NEW YORK YANKEES

RE: PROSTATE CANCER

(Written Testimony)

IN THE SPRING OF 1994, AFTER THREE DECADES IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL, I WAS LIVING THE LIFE OF MY DREAMS. MY WIFE, CAROL, AND I HAD RECENTLY CELEBRATED OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY AND AS THE FIRST MINORITY TO BE PROMOTED TO THE POSITION OF GENERAL MANAGER OF A PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM (THE HOUSTON ASTROS); I WAS AT THE HIGHEST ESCHELON OF MY PROFESSION. THE DATE FOR MY ANNUAL TEAM PHYSICAL FELL ON SUNDAY, APRIL 10th WHICH ALSO HAPPENED TO BE MY 47th BIRTHDAY. BUT INSTEAD OF GOING TO THE DOCTOR, I ELECTED TO SPEND THAT FINE SPRING DAY WITH MY WIFE. I FINALLY RESCHEDULED THE APPOINTMENT FOR MAY, AND AS PART OF THE EXAM, I ASKED THE DOCTOR TO GIVE ME A PSA (PROSTATE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN)TEST IN ADDITION TO THE DRE (DIGITAL-RECTAL EXAM). SEVERAL SCOUTS I KNEW HAD BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH PROSTATE CANCER THE YEAR BEFORE AND THEY HAD URGED ME TO ASK FOR THE

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TEST. THE DOCTOR SAID, "NO, NO, YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO DO THAT. WE DON'T START GIVING THE PSA BLOOD TEST UNTIL YOU'RE FIFTY OR SO; WE'LL JUST DO THE DIGITAL-RECTAL EXAM. I INSISTED. "NO," I SAID. "DO THE PSA." WELL, THE RESULTS CAME BACK AT 5.8, WHICH ALARMED OUR TEAM UROLOGIST, WHO ORDERED MORE TESTS AND A BIOPSY. OUT OF THE SIX CORE BIOPSIES, ONE OF THE BIOPSIES CAME BACK POSITIVE. IT WAS A PARTICULARLY AGGRESSIVE FORM OF CANCER. WHEN I HEARD THE DIAGNOSIS, A THOUSAND FEARFUL THOUGHTS RACED THROUGH MY MIND. I INQUIRED ABOUT SURGERY, AND ALL OF THE OTHER ALTERNATIVES APPROPRIATE TO THIS SITUATION. AFTER CONSIDERING MY RELATIVELY YOUNG AGE AND THE FACT THAT THE CANCER APPEARED TO BE CONFINED TO THE CAPSULE OF THE PROSTATE GLAND, MY DOCTOR RECOMMENDED SURGERY SO THAT THE CANCER WOULD NOT SPREAD TO THE LYMPH NODES. AFTER DISCUSSIONS WITH MY WIFE AND THE OWNER OF THE TEAM, I DECIDED TO GO AHEAD AND GET IT DONE. I HAD SURGERY ON JULY 6TH, 1994, AND THE CANCER WAS INDEED CONFINED TO THE GLAND; I DID NOT NEED ANY ADDITIONAL TREATMENT. MY PSA TEST WAS O.02, AND TODAY I AM CANCER FREE AND FEELING GREAT. BECAUSE OF EARLY DETECTION AND THE FACT THAT I AM A VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER OF A PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM I CAN STAND AND DELIVER MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY ABOUT RECOVERY AND HELP TO EDUCATE OTHERS ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER. PROSTATE CANCER CAN HIT ANY

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MAN FROM ANY WALK OF LIFE. IF YOU HAVE A FAMILY HISTORY OF PROSTATE TROUBLE OR CANCER YOU ARE AT AN EVEN GREATER RISK. THE FACTS HAVE ALSO INDICATED THAT MEN OF MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXTRACTION HAVE A HIGHER INCIDENCE OF PROSTATE CANCER. THIS IS A DISEASE THAT ALL MEN MUST ACKNOWLEDGE AS A THREAT. THE BEST DEFENSE AGAINST THIS DREADED DISEASE IS EARLY DETECTION AND EDUCATION. GETTING SCREENED WITH BOTH THE PSA BLOOD TEST AND THE DRE BY AGE 40 IS IMPERATIVE. THERE ARE AT LEAST 78,000,000 BABY BOOMERS COMING OF AGE AND AT LEAST 60% OF THIS DEMOGRAPHIC WILL BE AFFECTED BY SOME FORM OF CANCER. IN THIS YEAR ALONE 41,000 MEN WILL DIE FROM PROSTATE CANCER. TO PUT THIS INTO PERSPECTIVE THAT IS MORE THAN A SELL OUT CROWD IN THE FAMED FENWAY PARK IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. MY UROLOGIST TOLD ME THAT WITH THE KIND OF MALIGNANCY THAT I HAD A DIGITAL EXAM ALONE WOULD HAVE PROBABLY MISSED MY CANCER. IF THERE IS ONE MESSAGE THAT I CAN LEAVE WITH YOU IT IS THIS:

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SEPTEMBER 23, 1997

TO: THE UNITED STATES SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING

FROM: CAROL L. WATSON, SPOUSE OF BOB WATSON

RE: A TRAIL THAT LED TO PROSTATE CANCER

(Written Testimony)

MY EXPOSURE TO THE TERRIFYING WORLD OF CANCER CAME TO ME IN A VERY UNEXPECTED WAY. MY SAGA UNFOLDS AROUND MY HUSBAND ACCEPTING A COACHING JOB WITH THE OAKLAND A'S AS THEIR MAJOR LEAGUE HITTING INSTRUCTOR. WE HAD MOVED FROM ATLANTA, GEORGIA TO AN AREA IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA CALLED MONTCLAIR. I MET A LOVELY BRILLIANT WOMAN NAMED BEV R. WHO LIVED ACROSS THE STREET FROM US. WE BECAME CLOSE CARING AND SHARING FRIENDS. DURING ONE OF OUR MANY DISCUSSIONS SHE HAD TOLD ME THE STORY OF HER BOUT WITH BREAST CANCER AND HER RECOVERY. BECAUSE OF HER HONESTY AND COURAGE I BEGAN TO LEARN ABOUT CANCER. WITH A VENGEANCE I READ BOOKS ON CANCER FROM DIETS TO CURES, FROM MIRACLES TO DEATH AND DYING. UNTIL OUR FRIENDSHIP CANCER WAS ONLY THE BIG "C" WORD. DURING THAT YEAR I ALSO HAD MADE ANOTHER FRIEND NAMED MARY S. FOUR MONTHS INTO THE FRIENDSHIP WITH MARY S. SHE TOLD ME THAT HER YOUNGER SISTER WHO WAS IN HER EARLY 20'S HAD CANCER AND WAS PREPARING TO

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HAVE CHEMOTHERAPY AND HAIR LOSS AS A RESULT OF THE TREATMENT. WITH THIS IN MIND I SPENT A VERY TENDER TIME WITH HER SISTER TEACHING HER HOW TO TIE HER HEAD IN SCARVES. THE WORLD OF BASEBALL AND LIFE WERE STILL MOVING FORWARD. I WAS PULLING INTO MY GARAGE ONE DAY AND SIMULTANEOUSLY A TAXI PULLED UP WITH BEV R. MY NEIGHBOR IN IT. I LOOKED ACROSS THE STREET INTO BEV'S FACE AND I COULD SEE THAT SHE WAS VISIBLY SHAKEN, PALE AND WEARY. I WENT ACROSS THE STREET AND TOLD HER THAT I COULD SEE THAT SHE WAS STRESSED AND I ASKED HER IF SHE NEEDED ME FOR ANYTHING. SHE HESITATED FOR A MOMENT, FINALLY SHE SAID, "YOU KNOW HOW MY SIDE HAS BEEN HURTING ON AND OFF FOR THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS"? I SAID, "YES". SHE SAID, "WELL THE CANCER IS BACK". WITHIN A RELATIVELY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, CANCER TOOK ITS TOLL AND TOOK MY FRIEND. WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF HER DEATH MY STEP FATHER EDDIE WHO WAS IN HIS 60'S CONTRACTED LUNG CANCER. INITIALLY WE THOUGHT IT WAS HIS CHILDHOOD DIABETES REARING IT'S HEAD. VERY SHORTLY AFTER THE DISCOVERY OF THE CANCER HE PASSED AWAY. FOUR MONTHS AFTER EDDIE'S DEATH BOB ACCEPTED A JOB WITH THE HOUSTON ASTROS AS THE FIRST MINORITY ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER IN BASEBALL. BOB AND I HAD LIVED IN HOUSTON HAD BEEN A PART OF THE ASTRO ORGANIZATION FOR 15 YEARS WHEN HE WAS A BALLPLAYER. UPON OUR RETURN TO HOUSTON I RENEWED AN OLD FRIENDSHIP WITH ONE OF THE SAGES AND COMEDIENNES IN MY LIFE

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NAMED MARY R. MARY R. WAS IN HER 60'S BUT BEFORE WE WOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO RENEW OR NURTURE OUR RELATIONSHIP SHE SUCCUMBED TO HER SECOND BOUT OF CANCER IN THIRTEEN YEARS. AFTER HER DEATH ANOTHER FRIEND GENITA P. CALLED ME WITH THE NEWS THAT SHE HAD CANCER AGAIN FOR THE THIRD TIME. ADDING SHOCK TO SURPRISE TO HEART FELT SICKNESS WAS THE CALL I RECEIVED FROM ONE OF MY DEAREST HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS JUDY McC. JUDY LIVES IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. THE NEWS WAS BREAST CANCER. SHE HAD A LUMPECTOMY AND HER PROGNOSIS WAS GOOD. THREE MONTHS AFTER JUDY'S TELEPHONE CALL, MY FRIEND PAUL A. WAS DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG CANCER. PAUL A. DIED FROM LUNG CANCER. ONE YEAR TO THE DAY, JUDY McC. CALLED TO SAY THAT THE CANCER HAD RETURNED. MORE DISMAY, SHOCK AND SURPRISE CAME WHEN MY FATHER, EMILE L. CALLED TO SAY THAT HE HAD THROAT CANCER. IN SHORT ORDER HE DIED FROM THAT SAME THROAT CANCER. MY BROTHER PHILLIP L. DIED SIX MONTHS LATER. ON OCTOBER 25, 1993 WHICH WAS OUR 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY MY HUSBAND WAS NAMED GENERAL MANAGER OF THE HOUSTON ASTROS. WE SAIL ALONG FOR A WHILE AND A FEW OTHER CANCER SCARES FROM CLOSE FRIENDS ARE REVEALED. APRIL OF 1994 LOCKED MY SIGHTS ON TO A CONSUMPTIVE AND ENCOMPASSING TRAIL. THE TRAIL OF CANCER HAD CROSSED BOUNDARIES, CULTURES, AGE AND TIME LINES. IT TWISTED AND WOUND ITSELF FROM SOME DISTANT FOG-COVERED, UNNAMED MOUNTAINTOP THAT FOSTERED AN

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AVALANCHE THAT LED DIRECTLY INTO MY HOME AND BEDROOM DOOR. IN SPITE OF ALL OF MY READING AND EXPERIENCE THIS ONSLAUGHT PRODUCED A VERY DANGEROUS POISONOUS SNAKE THAT I DID NOT KNOW EXISTED. THIS WAS STARTLING TO SAY THE LEAST. WE ASKED OUR TEAM PHYSICIANS WHAT OPTIONS AND CHOICES DID BOB HAVE WITH THE AGGRESSIVE CANCER THAT HE HAD CONTRACTED. WE WERE TOLD THAT WAITING WAS ONE OPTION, RADIATION AND RELATED TREATMENTS ANOTHER AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST A RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY. AFTER MUCH DISCUSSION WE CHOSE THE PHYSICIAN WHO INVENTED THE PSA (PROSTATE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN) BLOOD TEST, DR. WILLIAM CATALONA TO PERFORM SURGERY. EVEN THOUGH HE PRACTICES MEDICINE AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, HE MAILED TO US VIDEOTAPES AND PAMPHLETS, AS WELL AS CALLING BOB ON THE TELEPHONE SEVERAL TIMES. WE WERE BOTH VERY WELL INFORMED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES OF INCONTINENCY AND IMPOTENCY AND ABOUT TIME, ENERGY AND EFFORT ON BOTH OF OUR PARTS THAT AFTERCARE WOULD ENCOMPASS. THE TRUTH HELPED ME TO ADJUST MY THINKING ABOUT THIS EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATING AND JOLTING EVENT THAT TUMBLED INTO OUR LIVES FROM THE AVALANCHE. I AM AND SHALL BE AN ADVOCATE OF EARLY DETECTION, EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND CHOICES.

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