Steve McQueen has shared how his father’s death from prostate cancer ultimately led to his own early diagnosis and successful treatment, per theguardian.com. The acclaimed filmmaker behind 12 Years a Slave is now on a mission to combat the disease that disproportionately affects Black men.
“I was always going to have prostate cancer. From the day I was born,” McQueen says with stark conviction. After watching his father Philbert succumb to the disease at age 67, McQueen became vigilant about his own health, undergoing regular screening that detected his cancer early, despite showing no symptoms.
The statistics that motivated his vigilance are alarming: one in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime, with Black men facing double the risk and 2.5 times higher mortality rates. More than 12,000 men die annually from the disease in the UK alone – roughly one death every hour.
McQueen recalls the shock of his father’s diagnosis in 2000, when the family hadn’t even heard of the prostate. “It was quite confrontational because I didn’t know what prostate cancer was. I didn’t know where it was. I didn’t know anything about it.” His father, a builder who “never had a cold once,” struggled through his final years with excruciating pain and difficulty urinating.
The filmmaker’s relationship with his father was complicated. “I wanted something more from my father than he knew how to give,” McQueen reflects. Their communication barriers extended to discussions about health – a silence that McQueen believes contributes to the disease’s deadly impact, particularly among men reluctant to address intimate health concerns.
On October 15, 2022, while in Los Angeles to receive an honorary Oscar, McQueen received his diagnosis. That evening, he delivered an acceptance speech before Hollywood luminaries including George Clooney and Julia Roberts, carrying his secret diagnosis. “I felt liberated,” he remembers. “I felt very powerful.”
Joining McQueen in his awareness campaign are his medical team – urology specialist Prof Suks Minhas and surgeon Ben Challacombe, who performed McQueen’s successful prostatectomy in November 2022. Just two weeks after surgery, the notoriously hard working director returned to the set of “Blitz,” his WWII film, without telling his 200-person crew about his operation.
The medical experts highlight troubling systemic issues behind the statistics. Minhas points to socioeconomic factors and institutional racism within healthcare: “The medical establishment is run by white people,” he notes, arguing that decisions are predominantly made with white British patients in mind. He contrasts the success of cervical cancer screening, which has reduced mortality by 75% since the 1970s, with prostate cancer’s 16% increase during the same period.
McQueen and his doctors are advocating for targeted screening programmes, particularly for high-risk groups like Black men with family histories of prostate cancer. They’re also working to overcome the embarrassment factor that prevents many men from seeking care – a barrier McQueen addressed in his short film “Embarrassed,” featuring actors Chiwetel Ejiofor, Morgan Freeman, Micheal Ward, and Idris Elba.
Through sharing his story, McQueen hopes to save lives by encouraging early detection of a highly treatable disease. “It’s upsetting that so many men are dying, particularly Black men,” he says. “It’s upsetting that my dad died.” But in this personal tragedy, he’s found purpose – transforming grief into potentially lifesaving awareness for countless others.
- Featured image: Steve McQueen/Sophia Spring
