Dear PROGRESS participants, Men living with prostate cancer face a number of challenges, and perhaps none more difficult than this: how do you gain control over such a remote and lethal illness? How do you mount a personal attack against an enemy that you can’t see – and in some cases can’t even feel? Too many men facing these questions become fatalistic and passive. Men seem to think of themselves as either living or dying, and a positive diagnosis for prostate cancer thrusts them into ranks of the latter. Those of you participating in the PROGRESS are the exception – you have shown a commitment to living. By participating in this study, you are not only taking charge of your individual illness but you have also joined the fight against the entire disease. You are helping scientists understand why cancer is so often shared within families and are helping researchers develop strategies to short-circuit this genetic legacy. You deserve the highest praise for playing such an active part in this urgent mission. You are not only helping scientists; you are also helping yourselves. I know that in my case, playing an active role in the fight against prostate cancer has made a dramatic difference in my own well-being. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago, I was completely shocked. At the age of 46, I had an advanced case of cancer. Other forms of cancer had claimed the lives of my father, my aunt, my mother-in-law and four other members of my family. From the beginning, I resolved to take a different approach than my relatives before me. I changed my diet, altered my lifestyle, consulted with medical experts around the country and began learning everything I could about the disease. I concluded that one of the most powerful and overlooked weapons in the battle against prostate cancer is not prescribed by a doctor or administered at a hospital – the one thing that can mean the difference between recovery and recurrence is knowledge. Today my PSA is holding steady at zero. I believe that right now the future has never looked more hopeful for those of us with prostate cancer. This is due in large part to the promise of the PROGRESS study. This research may soon give physicians the information they need to distinguish between harmless and aggressive forms of prostate cancer and may someday put a stop to the disease at its most basic level before it can express itself. Prostate cancer has affected generation after generation of American men, but it has never come up against a group as energetic or as committed to change as we are. Through efforts like this one, I believe we can be the first men stricken with this disease to stop it before it touches the lives of our children and our children’s children. Once again, let me express my thanks for your continuing help. Cordially, Michael Milken