By Inga Grömminger
It was November 2015, a typically unfriendly day in Berlin, and marketing manager Michael Kaufmann, now 52, was due for his annual check-up at the family doctor.
He hadn’t adjusted to this diagnosis at all. prostate cancer. At 45
The cancer was only discovered by accident. As always with the annual blood draw, Kaufmann had the PSA value (“prostate-specific antigen”, “tumor marker”) determined again this time. “The value was 100 times higher,” says Kaufmann, “a 3-centimeter tumor, there was an alarm!”
Made! In the summer at a party with his daughter Johanna: “The doctors had all taken back the bad diagnoses” Photo: Private
On that day the great struggle began. For survival, against the pain, against cancer. For life. for years. From doctor to doctor, radiation to radiation, chemo to chemo, hoping and crying.
“I was really a bit freaked out at first. panicked I let people down, I wanted to really freak out again, be happy, please don’t die and if I did, then I’d used everything up to then. Of course, that struck me. That was the wrong way,” he recalls of the first two years.
On vacation in Italy in 2022 with his Julia. happiness and relief Photo: Private
But his wife and their child brought him back to inner peace, power and strength.
“Without her, I certainly wouldn’t be here. You always believed in me, were and are always there. Of course, this is an over-the-counter medicine,” he knows. And yet there were always breakdowns, sobering diagnoses, fears.
“But I never gave up. It was perfectly clear to me: I have to do this. I want to see my daughter grow up, ideally become a grandpa. Johanna is now nine years old and I am so grateful that I have been able to experience the past seven years since the diagnosis.”
Out, in the sun, live. Between two chemotherapy sessions (November 2021), Kaufmann flew to Egypt with his closest friend Jost to switch off Photo: Private
In the meantime, Kaufmann has had an operation, 10 radiation treatments and two chemotherapy treatments.
In spring 2022, the cancer came back for the eighth time and this time the prognosis was devastating. The chemo didn’t work. The prostate cancer had spread, four spots (metastases) in the breast.
Kaufmann: “Suddenly I was no longer seriously ill, but terminally ill. The doctors said, in the worst case 18 months, in a lucky case three to five years. Especially now, I thought. You’ve already done seven years. Now we continue.”
Chemotherapy Infusion 2021 Photo: Private
One drug every day to fight prostate cancer. It lowers androgen levels and inhibits the growth of hormone-dependent tumor cells. An injection in the abdominal wall every three months to maintain testosterone. In addition, Kaufmann consulted a naturopath who had been recommended to him. “I wouldn’t have thought of that before, but in a situation like this you try everything. Just everything.” Natural remedies, still his cancer medication of conservative medicine, a total of 18 tablets a day, vitamin infusions every two weeks, high doses.
After four months, the PSA had dropped from over 50 to 2.7. Kaufmann: “My wife, my daughter and I – we all cried. And for the doctors, I am now scientifically interesting. You have withdrawn all forecasts. It’s like a miracle. That’s how it feels right now.”
Kaufmann’s daily dose of pills today Photo: Private
This summer was a summer of relief, of happiness, of love. “We traveled together as often as we could. And I fulfilled a dream, with the vintage car from Berlin to Tuscany. 3700 kilometers. The planned four days turned into two wonderful weeks.”
He is beaming and his eyes are shining. “It’s really quiet now. standstill. Unbelievable,” he says. But he also knows: “The uncertainty remains.” All the more important: “Enjoy every day, every moment. And get out in the sun whenever possible.”
Before, after, during the treatment, whenever he could, Michael Kaufmann went to play tennis Photo: Private
And he warns, calls on men to take precautions in good time. “Everyone brushes them off and says: ‘Oh, you only had to have a prostate examination from the age of 50,'” he says. “Exactly not! Something really went wrong with men’s education. It’s still a taboo subject. And I can only advise: talk about it! Go to the check-up and deal with it openly. That helped me a lot.”