CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — At a Cleveland Browns game in October, Mandel Childs, an educator at Lutheran High School East, had no idea that he would be thrust into the spotlight. Childs was selected to participate in the coin toss for the game, which was meant to raise awareness for cancer as part of the NFL and American Cancer Society’s Crucial Catch Intercept Cancer campaign.
However, that’s when he was presented with a huge surprise – two tickets to Super Bowl LVIII.
“Being a public speaker and clergy who is usually used to speaking in front of people, I literally had no words to say,” Childs said.
Childs was aware of the way prostate cancer disproportionately impacts Black men, so he began getting screened early – in his late 30s. It was through this vigilance that he and his doctor were able to spot when his PSA levels were elevated, which can be an early indicator of prostate cancer. Through constant monitoring, he was able to undergo five sessions of radiation at University Hospitals last January, and is now cancer free.
“Now my platform is to encourage, implore, whatever I’ve got to do to get to men,” he said. “It’s simple. Get a blood test, don’t be selfish, stop being afraid, get early detected. It’s something that, if caught early, can be cured.”
“Black men have a higher incidence of having prostate cancer, higher likelihood to die from prostate cancer, and so this makes screening even more important,” said one of Childs’ UH physicians, Dr. Angela Jia.
Getting screened for prostate cancer involves getting a blood test, something Childs encourages others to do.
“I find that more men are reluctant to even just go get a regular physical or check up, and do these kinds of things,” he said. “And then in the African American community, there seems to be a higher level of reluctance.”
Now, Childs is dedicated to getting the word out about screening and early detection, in the hopes of educating others and potentially saving lives.
“He’s incredible, he took something that is for most people a tragedy or a very low point in one’s life when you are diagnosed with cancer, and he met it head on,” Dr. Jia said. “Instead, he turned it into something very positive, he’s trying to advocate for peers to be screened at the appropriate time.”
When Childs was going through his diagnosis, he was teaching a health class as Lutheran East. He used his personal experience to help his students.
“I’ve always been trying to educate our students about being proactive,” he said.
On Friday morning, he and his wife will head out to Las Vegas to enjoy the big game. And while he’s looking forward to that, he has a bigger focus.
“I will enjoy the game, I’ll enjoy the festivities,” he said. “But if I know that what I’m saying can save another man’s life and have them connected to their family for many more years, and healthy along the way, that’s probably the greatest reward that I could see.”
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