"You don't get too many strikes, you get three strikes and your out and I wasn't about to take the third one."
Douglas Carlton is proud to say he's a prostate cancer survivor...he owes it all to the Baltimore City Cancer Plan at Johns Hopkins.
"I saw a sign that says free prostate screenings, and a matter of fact I passed it by twice before I started realizing the symptoms that I was having so the third time I went to the store, I looked up saw the number and wrote it down."
The free screenings led to a biopsy where his cancer was discovered last October.
He's undergone 39 treatments of radiation and hormone therapy.
"The center which takes care of the financial burden is one thing which really, it gave me one less thing to worry about. Its bad enough when you have to worry about what to do now, and at the same time, its why me. How did this happen?"
"What we want them to understand is even if you feel alright you may have abnormal cells growing."
Charlene Ndi (N-D)....Program Manager for the Cancer Plan says they did more than 700 screenings last year....and they hope to reach even more this year.
They'll return to the African American Heritage festival this weekend targeting men from 45 to 70 .
The screening involves two tests....a blood draw and a rectal exam.
"With the finger the doctor actually has to go into the rectum and feel the prostate and that's the only way you can feel it. The prostate is not an external organ."
"It only takes a few minutes."
Douglas Carlton says without it he may not be alive today.
