81-year-old music legend Al Hurricane passed away Sunday evening after a two-year battle with stage four prostate cancer with his two loving daughters by his side. Hurricane set out on a farewell tour with his son two years prior when he was first diagnosed with stage four Prostate Cancer.
Over a span of nearly 50 years, Hurricane would go on to release over 30 studio albums, including four solo albums with Bandido in the 1980s, then 15 solo albums from 1969 to 2010. He also released albums with his son Al Hurricane Jr., Gloria Pohl, Baby Gaby, and Lorenzo Antonio.
He was an innovative pioneer in the music industry and was dearly loved by many people.
Hurricane had a talent for incorporating traditional Hispanic music with rock and country, which made his music unique and one-of-a-kind. His son said that Hurricane had already said his good-byes to his family and friends prior to his death on Sunday.
Spelling out the need for awareness
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, only second to skin cancer, as it is found in around 80% of men who reach 80. If found early, it can often be treated. Some types of prostate cancer progress so slowly that doctors don’t even need to treat patients with chemotherapy or radiation. Something else that can attribute to your chances of getting prostate cancer is if prostate cancer is hereditary, or prevalent in your family.
It is important that every man uses this as an example of why they should know the signs of prostate cancer and why they should get tested at least once a year. Some common symptoms of prostate cancer can include:
- frequent urination
- burning
- blood in urine
- pain in bladder
- back pain.
Unfortunately, too many times prostate cancer is either misdiagnosed because the symptoms mimic other diseases and illnesses.
This is why it is important to get regularly screened because prostate cancer is so prevalent. It is sad that most men don’t catch it until it is too late to treat and has spread to other organs or “metastasized.”
Race to find a cure and a lesson learned
Luckily, there is hope that we are moving forward in the race to identify aggressive types of prostate cancer, as scientists have now discovered a metastatic signature.
In places such as Georgia, there have been new, noninvasive treatments developed in the race to find a successful treatment.
What we can take as a Lesson Learned from Al Hurricane's cancer battle, is that even through his illness and the chemotherapy he had to take, he kept playing and performing, doing what he loved up to the very end. His funeral date has not been set as of this writing.
