Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1111486
t m c » p u l s e | m ay 2 0 1 9 15 B y B r i t n i R . M c A s h a n whether I was on TV or not, if I had never said anything and they hadn't heard my story, they wouldn't have known to get in touch with me." For Halas, it was a different Frank who inspired her work to find a less invasive way to treat prostate cancer. "We found Frank Billingsley as he was in the process of exploring other treatment options," Halas said. "When I met him, I said, 'Frank, you have the same first name as my dad,' so it came full circle. My father, Frank Halas, a prostate cancer survivor, was diagnosed in 2007. He had radiation therapy at age 85 and it is really, really damaging. That is why we are so incredibly excited about this treatment. My dad said to me, 'If you can prevent just one man from going through what I had to go through, it will be worth it.'" Before Halas and Canfield contacted him, Billingsley was con- sidering other options to treat his prostate cancer, but they were grim. "Although prostate cancer is the second-most deadly cancer for men these days, the problem is not really so much mortality as it is morbidity," Halas said. "People who go through the traditional treatment have just a devastating loss of quality of life." Traditional treatment plans include a radical prostatectomy— the removal of the entire prostate gland—as well as radiation and hormone therapy. ➟