Alonzo Mourning had prostate removed, urges checks for men - ESPN

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame center Alonzo Mourning underwent surgery to remove his prostate after a diagnosis of Stage 3 prostate cancer, Mourning told ESPN.

Additional testing revealed that the cancer did not spread beyond his prostate capsule, and his mid-March procedure has left him cancer free.

In an interview with ESPN, Mourning — a seven-time All-Star, NBA champion and Olympic gold medalist in his 15-year career — described how routine prostate cancer screening played an enormous role in the discovery and treatment of a cancer form that kills 1 in 44 men in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Those statistics and his own experiences have made Mourning, 54, determined to be an advocate for at-risk men 45 years and older to get regular PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood tests to monitor themselves for the cancer. At-risk candidates include Black men and those with history of prostate cancer in their family. Most men can start screening at 50 years old.

«What scares me about this disease is that there are so many men walking around feeling great and have that cancer in them and they don't know it,» Mourning told ESPN. «The only way to find out is to get their blood tested and get their PSA checked. There are 3.3 million men living in the U.S. with prostate cancer, and many don't even know it. I was one of those guys.»

Mourning, a fierce competitor who resumed his NBA career after a successful kidney transplant 21 years ago, recounted how a random conversation at a social event three years ago made him mindful to begin regular visits to a urologist in South Florida. In the back of Mourning's mind, he knew there was a history of prostate cancer in his family — including his father and a