Rubin: Brighton lawyer wanted to kick an NFL football. It saved his life.
(This story has been updated.)
If this isn't the most guy-like thing ever, it's at least a contender: Bob Gardella is alive because he wanted to kick a football.
Guys, for those who've never been or known one, tend to be idiots about their health.
If we cut off two toes with a lawnmower, we assume they'll grow back and go inside to watch NASCAR. Or, we just cut off the same two on the other foot and figure it'll balance things out.
Gardella, 60, a lawyer from Brighton, is more sensible than most of us. He's cut back on processed foods and colas, eats salad for lunch, and takes a two-mile stroll around his city every workday.
That all came after the football, though, which means after his visit to the Men's Health Event.
Men's Health Event is the actual title of Saturday's men's health event from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ford Field. The founder, recently retired urologist Michael Lutz, kept it simple so we could understand it.
Since 2011, he has put together an annual day of free health screenings: blood draw, body mass index, EKG, hypertension, vision, hearing, skin cancer, oral cancer, a dozen more. There's a job fair, mental health counseling, vaccines, haircuts and hot dogs, and did I mention it's all free?
None of that particularly intrigued Gardella as he watched a TV report in advance of Testosteronepalooza in October 2021. What jump-started his battery was that after he took some tests, he could kick field goals with actual NFL footballs on the very turf trod by the Detroit Lions.
"I kicked probably 25 of them, until my foot got sore," he said. "The longest I made was 30 yards. For a guy with gray hair in his 50s, I did OK."
He did better on the field, it turned out, than on his PSA test.
Prediction misses the mark
The Men’s Health Event sprouted from some notes Lutz scratched on paper, trying to figure out what might be done to improve the long-term well-being of people who rarely consider it.
“Most men think they’re healthier than they are,” he said, and many of them are more likely to heed a warning sign from their transmission than from their body.
Friends predicted no one would show up to the first fair at a Troy hotel. It drew 500 people, and he moved it the next fall to Ford Field, where the concourse had room for medical stations and the playing field had room for fantasies.
Saturday, alas, the field will be off limits. The Lions' improvement in wins and losses has corresponded to an elevation in the cost of cavorting on the monofilament turf, from the $5,000 he paid last year to $25,000.
Fortunately, Lutz, 68, a former high school soccer player, has already had the chance to boot a 35-yarder — and he still has donors to cover the $75,000 in expenses that come with offering the best preventive medical care many attendees have access to.
If precedent holds, he said, 35% of the 1,000 to 1,200 men who show up will have poor health insurance or none at all.
Pre-registration is preferred, Lutz said, though not mandatory, at TheMensHealthEvent.com. Parking is only $4 at the Ford Field garage. Providers and donors cover the cost of the tests, most results are available immediately, and if you don't like hot dogs, there will also be tuna sandwiches.
"Men are typically reactive with their health care, instead of proactive," said Lutz, of Birmingham.
Changing that remains a goal, even without field goals.
A wee miscalculation
Gardella had stellar health insurance, and he had clues. He just didn't put them together.
"I would only see my primary doctor when I felt seriously ill," he said.
Feeling moderately annoyed wasn't enough. He was waking up to urinate as many as four times a night, but he was fine during the day, he was busy at work, and nothing hurt. So he did the standard guy thing, which was nothing at all.
Then, to make his way to the field at a football stadium, he had his prostate specific antigen checked. Having high PSA levels can mean big trouble; he did, and it was.
His form of prostate cancer was fast-moving and hostile. Within months of the test, he was undergoing surgery — seven hours' worth, to banish his prostate, surrounding tissues and lymph nodes.
Absent the test, his doctor said, Gardella would likely have been terminal by the time he was even aware. Instead of volunteering Saturday at the Men's Health Event, he'd be approaching the end zone in a 2?- to 3-year prognosis, or even crossing the goal line.
Being alive is better. The cancer is in remission, he's approaching his 28th wedding anniversary, and he's making time for a comprehensive physical every year.
The former health laggard has become a believer. If you're older than 40 or there's a history of cancer in your family, he said, get tested regularly. Eat smarter, walk farther. And if you ever get a chance to kick a football on an NFL field?
Heck, yes. Coolest thing ever. Pounce on that opportunity like a fumble.
Neal Rubin once mashed a baseball into the bleachers at Tiger Stadium ... from about 150 feet away. Reach him at [email protected].
The Men's Health Event
When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21
Where: Ford Field, 2000 Brush St., Detroit
What: Men ages 18 and older can receive free health screenings, including vitals, bloodwork to screen for prostate cancer, screenings for mental health, colorectal cancer, skin cancer, testing for diabetes and HIV. Eye exams, vaccines and haircuts will be available. There also will be employment and education assistance on hand.
Parking: $4 at the Ford Field parking structure.
Register: runsignup.com/menshealthevent
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Brighton man wanted to kick an NFL football — and it saved his life
