News

Crazy Mountain Brewery in Edwards Hosts Prostate Awareness Event Friday

Looking around at a bunch of guys sipping beer and stroking their Movember mustaches it's a little scary to realize that one out of six of them will at some point be diagnosed with prostate cancer. It's reassuring however to know that our community is coming together to have fun while supporting prostate cancer awareness. Today Crazy Mountain Brewery is hosting a Movember Prostate Awareness event with 100 percent of the proceeds donated to Shaw Regional Cancer Center to help patients.

The prostate cancer fundraiser will feature live music by local favorite Kevin Heinz from 6 to 8 p.m. and unveil Crazy Mountain's Snow Cat Coffee Stout. The winter brew is made of artisan roasted local coffee and brewed up in a stout made up of a complex blend of roasted malts.

For $15 patrons can get two pints of beer and a Movember T-shirt. There will also be a mustache contest at 7 p.m. with a $40 Crazy Mountain bar tab going to the winner.

“Of all cancers prostate cancer is definitely one of the slowest and most treatable” said Dr. Michael Glode Shaw and University of Colorado physician who has been at the helm of several nationally acclaimed research projects on cancer treatment and who is himself a prostate cancer survivor.

In recent years especially the variety of prostate cancer treatments has increased dramatically.

“It can make coping with any kind of cancer more difficult if you don't have options” said Shaw Regional Cancer Center Dr. Alex Urquhart. “What's exciting about prostate cancer is there are new therapies coming out now.”

New treatments effective even for patients with metastatic forms of prostate cancer include a variety of drugs that block testosterone (an androgen) which causes the cancer to spread and target abnormal proteins in the blood.

“Androgen deprivation therapy can control the disease for years sometimes leading to remissions lasting 15 or 20 years” Glode said.

The proceeds raised at today's prostate cancer benefit will specifically be used for Shaw's Spirit of Survival program which includes patient support groups dietary and psychosocial counseling and individualized exercise programs.

“Prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis in men at Shaw Regional Cancer Center. It can be stressful when men receive news of cancer as many of them are heads of their household so this support is very important” said event co-organizer Christine Albertson. “Events like this help ease this burden and raise awareness. This is important because if treated early prostate cancer has a 97-percent success rate.”