Advice to Patients Facing mCRPC

Alan H. Bryce, M.D.: What support services or support structures do you have around you? You talked about your daughter, you talked about our relationship. Is there advice you would give to other prostate cancer patients or perhaps other types of support you would like to have or would have liked to have had in the past as one prepares for this journey?

John Litten:I would like to have been closer to my twin sons too. My children are in their late 30s. Because of the frequency of my treatments, for the first year I tried flying back and forth from Alaska to Phoenix for my treatments, and then finally the expense of the flights just got to be too great. I was forced into making the decision that I should just relocate down here. I’ve been living here relatively close to your services for going on 10 years. Yes, it would’ve been nice to have the personal hugs and touches of your family, as opposed to being able to do it over the telephone. I’m very blessed. My family has always been very close. I can feel the love through the phone.

They’ve never once given me anything other than encouragement. You’re doing the right thing, Dad. I’m glad you’re where you are. We miss you, but the proof is in the pudding. The proof is in what has transpired with me—eight years ago saying I had at least three to five years to live. Well, here I am eight years later, and I feel as healthy as a horse. I wish I could control my weight a little more, but I have a great appetite. There are upsides and downsides, but nothing that I can point a finger to that would tell me that I should have done something differently. I really think that these new genetic treatments are the answer for some prolonged treatments for most of you who are out there under the same conditions that I am with the metastatic prostate cancer. I really believe in that.

Transcript Edited for Clarity