N.W.T. health officials urge men to get cancer screenings

The N.W.T. health department is urging men — particularly middle-aged and older men — to get screened for cancer.

Cancer remains the second leading cause of death of men in the Northwest Territories, behind cardiovascular disease.

Patrick Scott and Walt Humphries say they were lucky to get diagnosed early.

Scott's prostate cancer was detected last year, after a cold he had lingered for six weeks.

I would never have gone to the doctor had my daughter not made the appointment for me.- Patrick Scott

"I would never have gone to the doctor frankly had my daughter not made the appointment for me," he said.

"'Eventually it will go away:' that's the attitude. You have these symptoms along the way and you're 'Oh, it's nothing' or 'maybe it's just because I'm old.'"

Humphries was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003. Doctors noticed it because of a medical examination he had to take to keep his driver's licence valid.

"I suppose it's partly because men are supposed to be tougher, or take charge of things," he said.

"I know a lot of guys don't like going to the doctor because they're afraid something might turn up."

Both men are urging others to overcome their reluctance to get checked.

N.W.T. chief medical health officer Andre Corriveau says regular screening is one of the best ways to beat cancer. He adds the most effective way of preventing it in the first place, for smokers, is to stop smoking.

"Eighty-five per cent of the lung cancers are related to smoking," he said. "But many people don't realize that there's a whole bunch of other cancers that are related to smoking, such as nose and throat and stomach and gallbladder and kidneys and urinary tract, the bladder and, in women, breast cancer."

According to Statitistics Canada, in 2013 the Northwest Territories has the second highest smoking rate in the country, after Nunavut. N.W.T.'s smoking rate is 33.2 per cent, compared to the Canadian average of 19.3 per cent.