DECATUR - Community leaders, health officials and prostate cancer survivors gathered at St. Mary's Hospital on Wednesday to kick off prostate cancer awareness month.

State Public Health Director Dr. Damon T. Arnold was on hand to announce $277,000 in grants to Illinois health departments and organizations to promote prostate and testicular cancer education and provide men with free screenings.

The Macon County Health Department received $23,000 to continue its long history of screenings for the underserved.

"Macon County has been at the forefront of prostate cancer screening and awareness since the program began in 2000," said Bob Zettler, manager of the Illinois Prostate and Testicular Cancer Program, adding that the county was one of the first to receive state grants for the purpose.

According to a news release from Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office, more than 186,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and about 28,600 will die.

St. Mary's will offer free prostate screenings from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Wednesday in September through Lake Shore Urology, 1750 E. Lake Shore Drive, Suite 202. To register, call 464-1220.

Following the news conference, the group headed to the health department for a lunch reception.

State Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, spoke about legislation he sponsored to develop a system for prostate cancer assistance on par with the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program. It currently awaits the approval of the state Senate.

Dan Moore, a 16-year prostate cancer survivor, credited screenings and the local chapter of Us TOO International, a prostate cancer support group, for increasing local awareness.

"I think the human resource that we save when we treat men early and give them so many years of quality life is important," he said.

Since 2000, about 20,000 men have been screened, and 1,500 have had follow-up care for abnormalities found through the program, Arnold said.

"It saves the father of a family, the husband of a wife, the valued employee who would die too soon," he said of early detection.

Providing free screenings does far more than keep health costs down, he said. It protects the very fabric of culture and society.

"Those things are intangible, and those things are critical for us to preserve," he said.

Arnold lost his father to prostate cancer and is a survivor himself.

"You walk up to people who are cancer survivors, and you see why it's so important," Arnold said. "You feel it immediately."

Prostate cancer survivor Bob Jelks of Decatur said he gives thanks every morning for the things he is able to do because his cancer was caught early. From sipping coffee with his wife to watching football games with his family, he relishes life's simple pleasures.

"You can't compare when you have a chance to see life and enjoy life because it's not the end," Jelks said.

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