Dave Carter's PSA Screening

When it comes to prostate cancer screening, 72-year-old Dave Carter doesn’t mince words. “Get a simple little blood test to get your PSA checked. It takes 30 seconds, and it can save your life,” he said.

He’s living proof. In 2017, after his routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test came back abnormally high, Carter was referred to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health urologist Manas Jain, MD. After additional testing, Dave was diagnosed with prostate cancer. “People ask me how I knew I had cancer, and I always tell them that I didn’t know. I had no symptoms, everything was functioning, and I felt fine,” he said.

Swift surgical treatment followed, and routine PSA screenings showed no signs of cancer. But Carter, who retired in Port Orchard after a 30-year Naval career, still felt unwell. He scheduled a visit with Dr. Jain in early 2020 and learned that his prostate cancer had spread to surrounding organs.

Carter had little time to adjust to his new diagnosis of stage-4 prostate cancer. Not one to back down from a challenge, he met with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health oncologist Sirisha Jain, MD, and began regular chemotherapy treatment.

In August 2020, Dr. Manus Jain gave Carter the good news: The cancer was nowhere to be found. “My treatment worked better than expected, and I’m now cancer free,” Carter said.

Routine PSA screening are vital, because prostate cancer is a silent killer, he said. “Nothing indicated to me that I had a prostate problem…don’t assume that because you’re 27 or 37 or a weightlifter or a marathon runner that it can’t happen to you. I’m passionate about this because I’m trying to save your life.”