Ben Stiller has shared the news that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple years back, but that he and his doctor were able to treat the cancer. He opened up about the battle on The Howard Stern Show this week.
“It came out of the blue for me. I had no idea. At first, I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I was scared. It just stopped everything in your life because you can’t plan for a movie because you don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
In addition to explaining his experience, Ben shared that he wanted to talk about it in the hopes that his story could potentially help someone else too.
“I wanted to talk about it because of the [PSA] test…I feel like the test saved my life.”
The PSA test, or prostate-specific antigen test, is a blood test that can be used to screen for prostate cancer. Ben went on to explain that prostate cancer is a very deadly form of the disease, but that it’s also one of the most curable. Luckily Ben caught it in time and has been fine since.
“Afterwards, it just gives you an appreciation for life. Every six months I’m taking my PSA test to make sure I’m clear.”