by Pico
At 6:00 a.m. this morning, singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg passed away peacefully at his home in Maine. He fought a three year battle with prostate cancer that was already advanced when diagnosed in 2004. He was 56 years old.
He will of course always be remembered for the music he left behind. The hits like “Longer,” “Same Old Lang Syne” and “Leader Of The Band” will come to mind for most people, but I myself more strongly identify with those good-to-great albums he put out in the seventies, from Souvenirs to Twin Sons Of Different Mothers (with Tim Weisberg). He didn’t quite reach the level of popularity or acclaim of Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Eagles or James Taylor, but he had his moments back then where he was every bit as good as those guys.
Just the day before yesterday I was realizing how some 30 years ago, his Captured Angel tricked me into liking country music without my knowing about it. His tasteful melodies, heartfelt lyrics and rigorous attention to detail in the musicianship made it all irrelevant.
But in the last years of his life, Fogelberg wanted to get something out to the public more important than music: the message for all men middle aged and up to get properly tested for prostate cancer:
I cannot encourage you strongly enough to get a DRE (Digital Rectal Exam) and a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test EVERY YEAR.
The medical community suggests this for men over 50, but men with a family history of prostate cancer should start getting tested at age 40.
The PSA test is a simple blood test…it only takes a minute or two. The DRE, okay, every man squirms at the thought of this exam, but hey, it too takes only a minute or two, and IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Prostate cancer can be very slow growing or very aggressive, but detected early while it is still confined to the prostate gland, it can usually be treated and cured successfully.
Once it spreads beyond the prostate it is called Advanced Prostate Cancer (PCa). At this point it becomes imminently more life threatening and harder to treat. Do yourself and your loved ones a huge favor and GET CHECKED REGULARLY. I promise you, you DON’T want to go through what I’m going through if you can avoid it.
Education and awareness are key, I urge you to follow the link below to the Prostate Cancer Foundation web site and read up on how best to protect yourself and reduce your likelihood of contracting this terrible disease.
For more details, check the Official Dan Fogelberg website.
May you be in a better place now, Dan. And thanks for some great music.
Purchase: Dan Fogelberg – The Very Best Of Dan Fogelberg
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