CDC NACDD-Kognito (Nathan)/Getty Images (Background)
You’ll find him on a park bench. It’s a virtual park bench, but that’s the point. He’s always there, every day, like a benevolent NPC waiting to give you advice on your gaming quest. Or better still, a male version of The Matrix’s Oracle. His name is Nathan; he lives inside the Internet; and even though he’s only a bot, he just might save your life.
Nathan stems from a collaboration between the CDC and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, brought to life by Kognito, a tech firm that specializes in virtual interactions. “Talking” with him on your computer screen or smartphone is largely multiple choice—no fancy AI yet—but when you pick and click, Nathan answers in a warm, genial tone. “We wanted to offer a tool that could be a nonthreatening entryway to the questions that a lot of men might have about prostate health,” says David Siegel, M.D., a CDC oncologist who helped develop Nathan. “It’s a taboo topic in some ways because it affects a man’s health in a very sensitive area.”
The “sensitive” part is what makes Nathan so necessary. The word itself—prostate!—conjures uncomfortable thoughts about a doctor’s lubed-up finger, limp penises, and adult diapers. The kinds of thoughts that might lead you to simply ignore the whole subject. Reality check: Prostate cancer is the most common type in American men besides skin cancer. (One in eight men will get it during his lifetime, and there were an estimated 34,000 prostate-cancer deaths in 2021.) It isn’t just an old man’s disease—40 percent of cases hit before age 65. Your risk is doubled if you have a family history. Black men have double the risk of dying from low-grade prostate cancer and tend to get it younger.
Yes, it’s scary, but that’s why Nathan, comforting and knowledgeable in a grandfatherly way, is here to help. Though his total number of visitors has been in the low four figures since his launch in August 2020, 93 percent of users said Nathan helped them. Also: Before the Nathan simulation, only 46 percent said they’d feel confident talking to a doctor about prostate-cancer screening and treatment. After? That number leaped to 88 percent.
Nathan can give you power
By now you’re thinking, Okay, how would talking about prostate cancer actually keep me from getting it? And how’s it going to keep me from getting ED or incontinence from treatment? “Men aren’t inclined to discuss anything they think makes them appear less-than,” says Heather Goltz, Ph.D., a professor of social work at the University of Houston who counsels prostate-cancer patients and couples. “Anything that contradicts your narrative of feeling in control makes you say, ‘Yeah, I can’t really think about that right now. I’ve got bills to pay. I’ve got kids to take care of. I’m planning my vacation in June,’ ” she says.
However, addressing your risk and talking to your doctor now—or hitting up a resource like Nathan—is an immediate way to keep the power in your hands, says Goltz. Answers give you control; even difficult conversations (“I’m worried about ED after treatment”) give you control. The more you know, the more you’re in charge, no matter what your prostate decides to do. Here’s what we mean:
If you have a history of prostate cancer in your family
Get control by: Devising a lifelong screening plan with your doctor. If you have more than one relative who was diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 65, you’re in the highest-risk group. But nearly 99 percent of cases are treatable if caught early.
If you have an elevated PSA score
Get control by: Not panicking. Most men with an elevated PSA turn out not to have cancer. Work with your doctor to monitor your level. If you have to have a biopsy, keep in mind that only 25 percent of prostate biopsies find cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
If you have ED after prostate cancer treatment
Get control by: Knowing your options. There are more medical strategies than ever, and many are good ones, says Goltz, including pills, injections, and other penile-rehab solutions. Also consider it an opportunity for you and your partner to figure out how to change up sex and make it just as satisfying.
This article originally appeared in the March 2022 issue of Men’s Health.
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