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Donna Pogliano
Dick Knepper
Book Cover
Co-author Strum
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Patient's partner became an activist, then an author
Dick Knepper's prostate is becoming famous, not by name but by association.
The Milwaukee man's partner, Donna Pogliano, has co-written a new book with a California doctor that's intended as an easy-to-understand guide for patients newly diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Knepper had just returned from a 1,600-mile, 21-day bicycle trip to Florida to celebrate his 70th birthday when he learned of his disease. Pogliano, an agent for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, scoured the Internet, read books and quizzed doctors and others in a frantic effort to learn as much about treatment options as possible.
Knepper chose radiation seed implants to treat his cancer. He's now 73 and has no sign of cancer, Pogliano said.
She became a prostate cancer activist and helped campaign in 2000 to get September declared Prostate Cancer Awareness month. She earned an award from the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, a group based in Washington, D.C., that includes the American Cancer Society, the American Urologic Association, advocacy groups, and patients and their families.
In the process, Pogliano became acquainted with Stephen B. Strum, a cancer specialist in California, through his Web site, www.prostate-cancer.org. On the site, Strum answers questions.
"I had been reading his messages on that list for about a year before I actually phoned him" and asked if he'd be interested in collaborating on a book, Pogliano said.
The result is A Primer on Prostate Cancer (Life Extension Foundation, $28.95).
It's available locally at Borders, on the Web through the foundation at www.lefprostate.org - and from Amazon.com, which also is marketing it in a package deal with a long-standing, top-selling book - Dr. Patrick Walsh's Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer (Warner Books, August 2001).
Walsh is a Johns Hopkins University surgeon who pioneered nerve-sparing prostate removal surgery in the 1980s.
- Marilynn Marchione
A version of this story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Jan. 27, 2003
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