Thank you, Jack Layton

As the leader of the federal NDP, Jack Layton has to live a public life.  He has to spend any given day in a fishbowl.  What he doesn't have to do is make private, personal and secret issues, completely open for the rest of the country to know about.

Layton's diagnosis of prostate cancer could have easily stayed between he and his doctor.  He could have drawn on the support of family and friends, and it would not have had to become anything more than that.

Instead, it became a major announcement.  And Mr. Layton needs to be both saluted and congratulated.

Prostate cancer does not have the exposure that it needs.

More than 26-thousand men were diagnosed with prostate cancer last year and just about every single one of them did what they could to keep it low-key.

That's the guy way.  You don't want to tell someone about your problems because you don't want your problems to become their problems.  It's easier just to face it yourself.

But that is a mindset that must change.

Prostate cancer and men in general need to take a look at what women have accomplished in the fight against breast cancer.  It is front and centre and if you take a look at donations and contributions from all sources, it is one of the leaders in money for research and treatment.

Jack Layton didn't have to put himself into the spotlight, but in doing so he has given prostate cancer another avenue to convey its statistics and information with the hope that it, like all other forms of cancer, can one day be cured.