Author inspires men to take health issues seriously

Inspiring Albertan: Ben Samaroo A young Calgary lawyer has penned a book on prostate cancer and is our Inspiring Albertan this week. Darrel Janz reports...

A young Calgary lawyer has penned a book on prostate cancer and is our Inspiring Albertan this week.

Ben Samaroo is an associate in the Calgary office of a major national law firm and is now also a published author.

His book, ‘Sincerely, Your Prostate’ is an effort to encourage men to talk more freely about male health issues, especially the ones involving the more private parts.

“I think there is stigma that is attached to a lot of these men's health issues, which make it so men are embarrassed to talk about them and I think the second part is we have this notion in our culture that men need to be strong and silent and asking for help is a sign of weakness,” said Samaroo.

Samaroo came up with a cartoon-style book that contains some humour and bright illustrations done by Ruqaiyya Reza.

He is pleased with the response the book is getting and it has the support of the Canadian Cancer Society and the Men's Health Network.

“They both agreed that taking a little bit of a less formal approach to men's health would help to reach some of those people who aren't as receptive to something like a medical pamphlet or getting a lecture from a loved one,” he said.

Shawn Denstedt is national co-chair of Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt and says he is proud of what his young associate is doing.

“We are thrilled here with Ben's activities, you know, ‘Sincerely, Your Prostate’ really is a unique opportunity to tell a story that's hard to tell sometimes and we encourage all our associates and partners to give back to the community and this is a very important issue that he's undertaken,” said Denstedt.

All proceeds from the book are going to the Canadian Cancer Society.

For what he's doing to get men talking about personal health issues, Ben Samaroo is our Inspiring Albertan this week.

(With files from Darrel Janz)