ORANGE COUNTY, Fla – Five months ago, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings was running for governor. Then a routine blood test changed everything.
Demings, who suspended his gubernatorial campaign in June after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, now says he is cancer-free following surgery in late July. The Mayor sat down with News 6 Anchor Matt Austin to urge other men not to skip the screening.
“I had the surgery on July 28th, and here we are today, cancer-free, caught it early,” Demings told News 6. “For many of the men that I talked to, some of them were not so lucky.”
Demings received his diagnosis on June 1. Four days later, immediately after delivering his final State of the County address, he told the public and announced he was stepping away from the race for Florida governor to focus on treatment.
“I made a decision to suspend my race for governor and get treated,” he said.
What makes his case notable, his doctors say, is that he had no symptoms at all. The only red flag was a number.
“Other than the numbers going up, I did not have any symptoms that I could identify as having a problem,” Demings said. “It really was the numbers.” Those numbers — his prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, levels — were being tracked because Demings gets screened regularly, according to Dr. Vipul Patel, the surgeon who treated him in Celebration
“Because he takes good care of his health, he was being screened regularly, and that’s what led to the early diagnosis, and that’s what led to him having a very good outcome,” Patel said.
But Patel warns many men no longer get that screening. He points to a 2012 change in federal guidelines that pulled the PSA blood test from routine recommendations. “There are many men who don’t get screened, because even though it’s still the second leading cause of cancer death, it’s not part of normal screening,” Patel said.
The doctor’s message is blunt: early detection is nearly everything.
“Prostate cancer found early is highly curable, in the high 90s,” Patel said. “The key is to really get screened.” Demings echoed that, noting men too often avoid the doctor’s office altogether. “The cautionary tale that I say to men is go to the doctors, because oftentimes men won’t go to a doctor at the same frequency that women go to doctors,” he said.
As for whether the mayor could return to the political arena — perhaps another run for governor down the road — Patel didn’t hesitate when asked if Demings would be healthy enough. “He’s already healthy,” the doctor said.
Demings, who is term-limited and finishing out his time as mayor, stopped short of ruling out a political future but made clear he isn’t retiring quietly.
“I’m going to be of service. This is my home — I was born and raised here, so I will continue to find an opportunity to continue serving our community,” he said. “It may not be in an elected role or any of those things, but giving back to the community by volunteering or being of service. So you’ll continue to see me around.”
