Geneva: a marathon to prevent prostate cancer

– A marathon to prevent prostate cancer

There are nine HUG employees who have taken on the challenge of running the New York marathon. Prostateam wants to raise awareness of this type of cancer and raise funds for a new, more efficient device.

BotTalk

• Nine HUG employees will run the New York marathon in November.
• The aim is to raise awareness of prostate cancer in Switzerland.
• They hope to raise money for an advanced ultrasound machine.

How did you decide to run the marathon for a good cause?

The idea germinated one evening on call with one of my nursing colleagues, it was November 4, 2023. We suggested doing something crazy. The prostate problem was close to my heart and I thought of my patients. Hyperbaric medicine (editor’s note: the administration of oxygen under pressure) can treat radiation cystitis, i.e. all lesions caused by radiotherapy. The rays also burn healthy cells in the bladder, and as a result the patient urinates blood. I found it important to remember that prostate cancer affects one in seven men in Switzerland and that it is easily treatable since it remains very localized. It seems to me that prevention is not enough. For breast cancer, there is Pink October and women are used to going to the gynecologist since their youth, this is not the case for men. Going to a urologist to check your prostate is still taboo. We must desecrate this cancer, which generally does not cause symptoms.

You would like to raise funds through your approach, what will they be used for?

For the HUG prostate center; we would like to acquire a new ultrasound device with precision similar to MRI, or three hundred times higher than the quality of standard imaging. It will allow for a more precise and less invasive biopsy. Its cost is 180,000 francs. The HUG private foundation has joined forces with our fundraising and is doubling the donations we receive for each franc collected: 90,000 francs are therefore necessary to achieve our objective. Fundraising is not an easy exercise; you have to knock on the doors of local and ethically correct businesses. We did everything as a group, the sponsorship file and the requests for funds. Each participant is self-funded and all funds raised will go to the project.

Why did you choose such a challenge, running 42 km in New York City?

This marathon is legendary, its reach is global and its distance emblematic. This gives weight to our project. We are not athletes and we have never done marathons. We know good restaurants better than fitness addresses (laughs). It was about surpassing oneself for the patients and to give legitimacy to our action, for a good cause. We have entered into a partnership with a training application, ALPI training. It was offered to us and offers a personalized program for each participant, to finish the marathon. It’s colossal in terms of training!