INDIANAPOLIS — It’s been six months since former Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry disclosed he had been fighting prostate cancer.
"It's an incredibly common disease among adult men," Curry said. "Certainly if you are going through something serious—clearly this is serious. If you dwell on it, you will be only compounding what you’re going through.”
Curry is up early and in the gym often. From the gym, he goes to work where he has a full plate as a deputy prosecutor assigned to grand jury division.
We met in the grand jury room which is off limits to the public.
"When the grand jury sits, it consists of 6 jurors," Curry said.
On Sept. 23, Curry sent Governor Eric Holcomb a letter resigning as Marion County prosecutor to focus on his fight against prostate cancer.
"I felt it appropriate to step aside, if I didn’t feel like I could devote 100 percent to the office because I was at a point in my treatment where I was going to have some serious type of treatment that I know would impact my energy level," Curry said. "As a consequence, I made that choice but most men I don't think have to make a choice.”
Since going public with his health, Curry has found a lot of support.
”I just encountered so many other men in the time, since I discovered this that I feel good that I can encourage them to take it head on and just live their life," Curry said.
In January 2015, he was diagnosed with the cancer. He's undergone multiple surgeries and a clinical trial at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore that did not work.
Currently, he continues his medical treatments to control the cancer.
“You reach a certain age, mortality starts to creep in your mind in any event," Curry said. "Then when you contract a disease like cancer, certainly the concept of mortality I think about regularly. I have a great family, I have a great life so it's a matter of staying positive and maintaining normal day to day routine and activities."
For him that's practicing law, and getting the occasional scone at the City Market. He's a familiar face in this downtown Indianapolis space, but in this north side place, there's no doubt he embraces the weight of working on his health,
so he can press forward with his message to men.
“If you start to get down, kick yourself in the butt and get back into your normal routine," Curry said. "For me, I loved to exercise my entire life. So it’s just a matter of getting myself to get up, lift some weights, go for a walk, play some golf, just do things to keep your mind off of those negative thoughts.”
Curry is calling on men need to get a prostate check.
The average of diagnosis is 66 years old. African-American men have a higher rate of facing the cancer.
The iconic leader of the Indiana Back Expo, the Rev. Charles Williams, raised awareness about the disease before his death in July 2004.
As an advocate, Curry wants men to learn the level of their P-S-A, or Prostate Specific Antigen. Health professionals say you want your “PSA” to be less than 4 because anything higher should raise a red flag.
"It is controllable and you can you live your life," Curry said.
