BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Byron Lockwood, the former Buffalo Police commissioner, is cancer-free after a prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this year — and he wants every man to know it could happen to them.
Lockwood said his doctors first noticed his PSA numbers rising in 2025 during a routine blood and urine screening.
"They noticed that my PSA numbers were coming up. It was like a two something, and it shot all of a sudden to like a mid 3 since we had the last biopsy," Lockwood said.
Then in January of this year, his doctor delivered alarming news.
"That little bit that they saw got aggressive," Lockwood said. "I didn't feel nothing. I felt well. I was working out. I was running, lifting weights. You're nervous because when you hear you got cancer, you know, you think of the worst."
WATCH: Former BPD commissioner shares prostate cancer journey to urge men to get checked
Lockwood underwent nine weeks of treatment, finishing in July.
"My last treatment, I asked the doctor: 'What do we got here?' He said to me, 'As far as I'm concerned, you're cancer-free, and you should live another 50 years,'" Lockwood explained.
He said the treatments were uncomfortable, particularly the hormone shots.
"I have a lot of respect for women who are going through hot flashes," Lockwood said.
I met Lockwood as he was getting his weekly haircut with his barber, Ronnie Ogden, at Supreme Clientele Barber and Beauty Shop on Genesee Street. He told me he made two promises to God when he was diagnosed.
"Two things that I promised God I would do when I had prostate cancer. It was first to ring that bell, and second, to get the word out to all men that they should go and get checked out at least once a year. Because if you go once a year and they catch it early, you've got a very, very, very good chance of surviving it," Lockwood said.
According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, 1 out of 8 men in the U.S. can expect to be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. For Black men, that number is 1 out of 6.
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
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