‘We’re Going to Beat This’

How hormone therapy helped Bernie Durant survive prostate cancer

A great catch

Bernie Durant’s baseballplaying days made him comfortable with annual physical exams, which include a blood test (PSA) to track prostate health. His cancer was found early and successfully treated.

A former Pittsburgh Pirates farm system pitcher and one of the region’s first African-American businessmen, Bernie Durant prides himself on strength and survival. So he wasn’t about to let a 1998 diagnosis of prostate cancer conquer him.

“I first thought, ‘Why me?’” says Durant, 69, of Allentown. “Then I told my doctor, ‘It’s you, me and the Man upstairs, and we’re going to beat this.’”

Durant’s urologist, Arthur Fetzer, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, gave him several treatment options, including surgery and chemotherapy. But one option—a combination of hormone therapy and radiation—was his best bet, given the aggressiveness of the cancer. His PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level was 11, more than twice that of a healthy prostate.

To stop the cancer from spreading, Fetzer prescribed leuprolide acetate (Lupron), a manufactured hormone that halts cancer cell growth by stopping testosterone production. Durant got an injection every three months for three years. To kill the existing cancer cells, he also received external-beam radiation (similar to an X-ray) daily for eight consecutive weeks.

“My radiation treatments were at 8:30 a.m., and I was back at my office right afterward,” Durant says. “I’m amazed how the radiation pinpointed the exact location of the cancer.”

Now cancer-free (his PSA is 0), Durant lives with gusto. He spends his days at Durant Enterprises, Inc., a regional and national product supplier, and off-hours with his wife, Jane, and two adopted daughters. “I’m at the gym three mornings a week at 5, and I take vitamins,” he says. “But most of all, I get checked regularly. I trust my doctors, and I’m feeling great.”

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