Zero - The End Of Prostate Cancer license plates

Funds from the ZERO The End Of Prostate Cancer license plates would stay in Ohio to provide free patient navigation services to reduce financial toxicity among prostate cancer and free transportation for prostate cancer patients to doctor appointments.

Thank you Rich Harman!

Another very Special gift came in the mail today! For the past few years Mayor Rich Harman has support my efforts in raising awareness for prostate cancer. It brought happy tears to my eyes.  I took a picture with the envelope as well. I think this Is a sign about what I do for prostate cancer

444 is a number of protection and encouragement. It is a sign that you are currently following the right path. If you see the number 444 repeatedly, it is often your angel giving you a sign that they are with you.

Very Special Gift!

As of December 1, 2019 a very special Mayor from Woodville, Ohio retired after 33 years of serving the resident of Woodville In 2015,  I contacted Mayor Harman for a Proclamation for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education Month in September. He was honored to be included in my request as prostate cancer has also made an impact in his life as well. Mayor Harman had went above and beyond and added blue light to the flag poles in the park and on bushes. Last year he also made ribbons and these banners for business in the village of Woodville to display in support for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education. 

Dear Linda and Ray,

You two are amazing people and it was my honor and pleasure helping with your Crusade, Prostate Cancer Awareness.

I wish you the best as you continue giving 100% every day

Love you both

Rich Harman

Woodville Mayor 

12/1/2019

PSA Screening for HIM Act (H.R. 5200)

The PSA Screening for HIM Act (H.R. 5200) fills a data gap that handcuffs the law from ensuring men at high risk for prostate cancer can get screened with no cost sharing requirements. We have mortality data that shows African Americans and men with a family history are at greater risk for death from prostate cancer, but we don't have a data set that shows screening prevents those deaths. Kind of backwards. To urge your Congressional representative to cosponsor the bill, use this link: https://lnkd.in/egFT2Fy

Blue ribbon

Just added one of the ribbon that Mayor Rich Harman gave me. He made them for the Village of Woodville! My blue light shines 24/7

#PCa #PCaCaregiver

Petey visited with Santa

Senate Hearing for S.C.R. 10

This is my testimony I read at the Senate Hearing meeting on November 20, 2013 for S.C.R. 10

On June 19, 2009 my life as a wife had forever changed in to a prostate cancer caregiver wife. My husband’s PSA rose from 7.91 to 8.42 in little over one month. June 15th a PSA and Biopsy were done I never gave it a thought that we would be called back to Wright-Patterson 4 days later and I needed to be there. That morning of the 19th I was not thinking that there was anything wrong! But when we get to the base it was strange to hear that the doctor cleared his morning schedule to talk with us. Thought it was strange but no RED flags here! We get into his office and sit down and he tells us…I am sorry Sergeant Hoetger your biopsy came back positive for an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Stunned, shocked, numb are just a few words that I can describe on that day. My tears started flowing. This is no news one wants to hear but for a doctor to have to tell the patient or the wife! After all the tears and trying to absorb the diagnosis he took the time to discuss the tests in depth, treatment options, questions. Ray did not want to hear any option except the prostate is causing the problem then take it out NOW! The Urologist said to become students and learn everything about prostate cancer and so that is what I did. I did research all the options and tried to share them with Ray but he did not want to hear any of them except surgery!

Ray was diagnosed at 56 years old with prostate cancer with a simple PSA blood test that the United States Preventative Task Force recommends against at any age. I do not agree with their recommendations as the wife of a Prostate Cancer Survivor and also a Mom of 4 young sons’ in their 20’s. It was devastating hearing that my husband was diagnosed but hearing it from my sons! When there is a simple PSA blood test that could save their life?

Life After Prostate Cancer ans Other Medical Conditions

Definitely a recommended reading before surgery! If you are reading it post surgey I highly recommended it as well.

I read the book as a caregiver of a 10 year prostate cancer survivor. There was information that would have been usefull to my husband and I before he had the surgery and post surgery. he has been incontinent since surgery but we have been living with it. It would have been beneficial to know the foods that cause incontinence so that we would know what to avoid. The exercises for the 10 week program is great and gives you step by step with images to follow as well. And to know that you are doing them correctly. The bladder log for incontinence is great as well, and recommended to use daily to also follow your progress. The program itself is also easy to follow weekly stages. 

My husband is just started reding the book and will also post a review to Amazon soon!

If you have read the book please post a review to Amazon as well. It is also great for women who also suffer from incontinence. 

Life After Prostate Cancer

The author asked if I would write a review of her book for Amazon. So far her book has enlightened me about some of the issues my husband Ray is having with incontentiance. Things that were never brought up by doctors. Many of the foods he likes is on the list of things to avoid. Once I finish reading the book I will add my review here as well.

Unexpected meeting

Earlier this week Ray and I had medical appointments at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Before the appointments we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast. After we ordered and got our food we sat down next to a group of Veterans who meet up there. As we are finishing up Ray starts talking with one of the veterans. They start talking about the military and prostate cancer. The veteran shares he had prostate cancer 20 years earlier and had surgery to remove it. His prostate cancer was caused by Agent Orange from his military career. The chemicals and herbicides used in the mlitary has caused so many medical issues with our service members. He also said he was receiving a larger percentage of disability, but once he had treatment for prostate cancer his disability was adjusted. The reason their disability gets adjusted is because if there is no prostate there is no prostate cancer. Sadly there might be one little tiny cell that has decided to hide and reappear at anytime.

He won't say he's cancer free. He know that there is a possibility that it can rear its ugly head at anytime.  I feel the say way too. There were a couple more veterans in the group who also have been impacted by prostate cancer. These veterans hadalo had their disbilty adjusted as well. That really upset me. These guys were sent to Vietnam not by choice.

Caregiver Journey

My Name is Linda Hoetger, I am asking for your support for the millions of families impacted with prostate cancer. Many who live in your community and are not ready to speak up yet and share their journey. I have become an active advocate and helping them along the way. On June 19, 2009, my life forever changed when my husband Ray and I were given the devastating news that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Ray is a 20 year Veteran of the United States Air Force. After he graduated from Kingston High School in 1970. He enlisted in the Air Force as a Firefighter and served 4 years in that career field state side and in England. Being a firefighter there were countless contaminates used to distinguish fires and also used to decontaminate the military airplanes. Also herbicides were sprayed around the military installations to control the weeds and foilage. We believe that Ray's military career is what caused his prostae cancer. He is the oldest of three sons in the family and is the only one with prostate cancer. His brothers never enlisted in the military. Though Ray never stepped boots in Vietnam, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer nd the children have been affected with birth defects . Two marriages and seven children of which five of the seven have some kind of birth defect. His first son from his first marriage died at eight days old from a heart condition, as well as his second child was born prematurely. His third child was born with out birth defects. When we married in 1983, I had dreams of always having a healthy happy family. Our first son was born in 1984, with a VSD (Ventricial Septcial Defect). A year later our second son was born with webbed toes on both feet. Our third son was born healthy, our fourth son was born with 1-4 heart murmersand lung problems. All of our sons have grown up now. The older sons are in their thirties and our youngest is twenty-nine. I worry that they have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. I never want them to have to go through the journey my husband and I have as a couple. The two older sons have started families of their own.

Since Ray's diagnosis I was not going to sit back and do nothing I started advocating and raising awareness for this horrible disease that no one seems to want to talk about. Men who served in the military who have been exposed to chemicals and herbicides are at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. Education regarding prostate cancer and early detection strategies is critical to saving lives, preserving, and protecting our families. The economical and social hardship it has on the families is huge. Prostate cancer is estimated to cost over $8 billion in direct medical expenditures. Nearly 3 million men n the U.S. are living with a prostate cancer diagnosis, that number is estimated to climb to 4 million by 2024 as men in the baby boomer generation age. In 2012, I began working with ZERO - The End Of Prostate Cancer, a national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer . ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families and inspires action. In 2013, I started contacting elected officials for Proclamations and Resolutions supporting Prostate Cancer Awareness and Education Month in September. Since I started my mission over 2,000 elected officials have supported my efforts in raising awareness in their districts and communities. My husband Ray and I have been invited to attend City Council meeting to accept the Proclamations and Resolutions. We are also given the opptertunity to share our journey, as we share ours there have been elected officials who have shared theirs as well. Some for the first time! I hope to one day have a prostate cancer survivor to also attend council meetngs to also share their story. Having their elected officials from their area is key in letting the families know that they are supported and they care.

We are currently working with Representave Richard Brown, House District 20 and Representative Scott Lipps, House District 62, to have ZERO - The End Of Prostate Cancer license plates The funds from the  license plates will stay in Ohio to provide free patient navigation services to reduce financial toxicity among prostate cancer and free transportation for prostate cancer patients to doctors appointments. On June 19, 2019 it was passed by the House of Representatives in the 133rd General assembly 97-0. It was referred to the Senate Transportation, Commerce and Workforce Committee and waiting on a Senate vote for passage.

Working with ZERO has given me so many more opportunities to keep raising awareness and to be part of ending prostate cancer Each year Ray and I speak to our elected  officials at the annual ZERO Prostate Cancer Summit in Washington, D.C and work locally in Ohio and across the nation to secure proclamationa from each local government. 1 in 9 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. Someone in your family or you may know someone impacted by prostate cancer. September, the nations recognizes  prostate cancer awareness month with Proclamations and Resolutions from elected officials and share them with newspapers and newsletters as another way to help promote prostate cancer awareness to help defeat the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men. An estimated 31,620 husbands, sons, brothers, fathers and gandfathers will lose their lives to prostate cancer in 2019. 

My awareness campaigh will continue in 2020 and continue until prostate cancer is a disease that no longer impacts the men in or lives!

Santa Petey

Edward C. Kaps Award 2010

Linda Hoetger - Us TOO Lancaster, Ohio

Us TOO’s journey with Linda and Ray Hoetger started back in the fall of 2009. Linda called the Us TOO home office after first hearing about Ray’s diagnosis of prostate cancer. Many of you in the room know the feeling’s that Linda was experiencing. She did not know what to do or where to turn. She searched the internet and found the Us TOO Support Group in Lancaster Ohio. They attended their first meeting in August of 2009. “What really attracted me to the group was that wives and partners were invited, shares Linda. That night I felt like I was not alone. Others knew how I was feeling. Being part of Us TOO has been a blessing in our journey with prostate cancer. Being involved with the group and with others who understood what Ray and I were going through has been life- changing!”

After Ray had his surgery Linda found that using a favorite hobby she already had helped her through some of the most stressful times of Ray’s journey with prostate cancer.“I started making scrapbooks many years ago as a creative hobby and have found it is my stress relief. When we found out that Ray had prostate cancer I wanted a way to share what has been happening to us in a personal way.

Linda with her very creative imagination came up with a little character named PSA Petey the Prostate She found out that the prostate is the size of a walnut, so she created Petey and started giving him some personality! Through Petey and his journeys, she came up with a way to promote awareness about prostate cancer and the importance of PSA levels for men. It was also a way to help deal with her own stress that came along with having a partner with prostate cancer.

Linda also started a Facebook page called “Prostate Cancer Survivors Caregivers and Friend’s United”. The page provides a place where companions and family members can find information that will help them through their journey with prostate cancer through the eyes of a caregiver. They can find comfort, share stories, get educated, and most of all knowing that they are not alone. Linda keeps the page updated frequently sharing all the latest news on prostate cancer.

Bill Stevens, leader of the Us TOO Lancaster Ohio Chapter, along with all of their membership, unanimously supported the nomination of Linda for the Kaps Award. “Linda has been extremely dedicated and active in support of prostate cancer awareness, both locally with our group, and nationally with Us TOO and Zero, shares Bill. She has attended several conferences, health fairs, and organized her first fundraising event called “Pasta for Prostates” this year. Linda is a multi-talented woman with a driving passion to fight the prostate cancer that has so affected their lives.

Linda has accomplished all these things while challenged by her own medical ailments. Her actions not only reflect a very kind and charitable heart, but also prominently emphasize that prostate cancer is a couple’s disease and the need for women to be proactive. Sometime this evening be sure to ask Linda to share her story about her “Spill on Capitol Hill!"

Doreen Fast, one of the members of the Us TOO Lancaster support, shares that she and her husband Richard in the strongest and most loving way, support Linda for the Edward C. Kaps Hope Award. “Linda is and has been a beacon of hope for me and my family at a time of our darkest fears and time of need, shares Doreen. As with so many, the day you receive the news you have cancer is a time when we have a need for hope and friends who can hold your hand and guide your steps through many uncertain times. Linda has been a very important beacon of hope. A beacon does not use many words, but it shines a light so bright a lost ship can find its way home. Linda has been so supportive with her acts of kindness, love and generosity. Linda expresses her hope for all of us through her love and actions. I am one of the lost ships in the night that Linda's beacon of Hope has guided home.

Woodville,Ohio Mayor Rich Harman

On Decembe 1, 2019 we joined Mayor Rich Harman and the Village of Woodville in celebrating his retirement after over 30 years of service. Yesterday Mayor Harman gave me some gifts that I will forever cherish. When I started asking Mayors for Proclamations for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September Mayor Harman was one of the first to support my efforts. The years to follow he added blue lights in the park on the flag poles and bushes. He went above and beyond by having banners and blue ribbons made for businesses in the Village. One of the banners he wrote a personal message, which brought tears to my eyes. He said even though he is retiring Woodville will continue supporting Prostate Cancer Awareness Month! 

The Amazing Woodville Mayor Rich Harman!

MAN UP!

On our way to Woodville we passed this billboard in Tiffin, Ohio!

 Of course I wanted a picture of it. 💙💙💙