Jim Holston 1935 – 2009​

 

As many of you may know, Prostate Cancer is very prevalent and yet is seldom talked about because men are very quiet about their illnesses – therein lies the problem.  Men in general seem to resist being tested for anything that might challenge their health – then when discovered they don’t really discuss it much.



It is so important that all males here in this audience have a PSA test by the age of 50 and get your friends to do the same.  One in six men will deal with prostate cancer and as with most cancers the sooner the diagnosis the better chance for a successful life cancer free.



When I discovered that I had prostate cancer, I couldn’t think of anyone I knew that had it.  As time passed I would hear on the sideline that someone had the cancer but I had little information or support, except from physicians and family. I had a tough time trying to decide what I needed to do.  Luckily enough for me, I chose what I feel were the right decisions including hospice care – of course it helped to have 23 years of hospice experience.  Now I can live my life out with a new kind of hope – to live strong and die well.



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Jim battled Prostrate Cancer for eight years. Many of those years had trying days but during that time Jim concentrated on how to better educate men about prostrate cancer prevention and treatment and he continued to promote hospice care.  As Dan Fogelberg’s wife writes, “the cure did not come in time” — Jim died of prostrate cancer June 18, 2009 at the age of 65. As many of you know, prostrate cancer is very prevalent and yet is seldom talked about because men are very private about it — therein lies the problem.  Men in general seem to resist being tested for anything that might challenge their health — then when discovered they do not discuss it much.



It is so important that all males have a PSA test by the age of 50.  One in six men will deal with prostrate cancer and as with most cancers the sooner the diagnosis the better chance for a successful life cancer-free.  The Prostrate Cancer Foundation funds research all over the world, not just aimed at early detection and cure, but also finding treatments that will put less stress on a man’s body and allow him to live a more active, pain-free life while fighting prostrate cancer.

And as Jim said at the concert in 2008, “Enjoy a wonderful evening of music on August 19th, 2010, and continue Dan Fogelberg’s quest to defeat prostrate cancer.”

Thanks for keeping Jim’s memory alive.

Ronnie Atkins.