Hi, and welcome. Welcome! I'm Kristin Vaughn. I'm the chief content officer for blackdoctor.org, and I am here with a very, very special exclusive interview with R&B legend Montell Jordan and his beautiful wife, also named Kristin, that we are so happy to have here today. as you know, this is September. This is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and we are here to talk with someone who has really made it his mission to help Black men, in particular, get screened and to be aware about prostate cancer. Mr. Jordan is a global ambassador for Zero Prostate Cancer. he is also on his journey to be a two-time prostate cancer survivor.

We know he's done it once, and this time we know that with faith and family and the support of all of us behind him, he is going to do it again. He's gonna tell us a little bit about his journey, share with us some more information about the movie, Sustain the movie, that him and his wife, Kristin, are working on, and that really chronicles the journey, and we're gonna hear more about that. First, I'm gonna share a few numbers about prostate cancer and Black men in particular. And these are important numbers. You can definitely go to Zero Prostate Cancer and find out more about these numbers.

again, prostate cancer, one in six Black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in this lifetime. Every day, nearly seventeen Black men will die of prostate cancer, and every nine minutes, a Black man is diagnosed with prostate cancer. Now, despite the higher risk, though, there are three point three million prostate cancer survivors that are alive in the US, and with early detection, more than ninety-nine percent of people diagnosed with pro- prostate cancer will be alive in five years.

So there is good news, and that's some good news that I know, Montell, you want to spread the word about. One of the big things you want to tell people, Black men in particular, is about the importance of the awareness for one, and early screenings. First off, Montell, thank you for joining us, you and Kristin. Thank you so much for joining us. Tell us a little bit about your road to finding out about prostate, prostate cancer. what did you know about prostate cancer before you had a personal connection with it? What does your family history look like with prostate cancer?

Thank you, Kristin. We're honored to be here. and let me just start by saying that, before being diagnosed with prostate cancer, I did not know about prostate cancer. I didn't study prostate cancer. I didn't know any statistics about it. Honestly, I didn't c- I didn't care about it because it did not, affect me. At least, I didn't think it affected me. and so because of that, because I was not aware of it, I wasn't an advocate for it, it just seemed like the, the C-word in itself, just did not, apply to me. and so from that standpoint, I think that's the place where a lot of men reside, in a place where, "Well, it doesn't, it doesn't involve me, and because it doesn't involve me, therefore, it doesn't exist." and so, diagnosis for me was a result of a decade of going and having myself screened and getting blood tests and, finger checks and all of that.

But, I mean, medicine has advanced throughout the years to where that's not even the, the thing that, that detects It can, but really, it's blood levels, it's PSA levels.

And so, from my early forties to my early fifties, during that time period, there is a track record or a blueprint or a template of my blood PSA levels that was able to show, you know, twelve years ago, it was at three point one, or then it was at three point four, then three point five, then three point eight, then four point one. And, and just these slight increases just- Right ... kind of gave a-- And no one bats an eye if it's beneath six. Anything sub-six is not something to even look at. And when I crossed the threshold of five point eight to six point eight, like a full point, that was kind of like, "Oh, hold on, something happened here.

We need to figure out, you know, what this is." And then from that standpoint, that was where, the diagnosis turned into, going to the urologist and getting scans and, biopsies and all of those things to find out that I was early, first-stage prostate cancer. And because it's ninety-nine percent treatable when detected early, being first stage, early first stage prostate cancer allowed us to have- options to determine what we wanted to do. Did we wanna have, it have it removed? Did we wanna treat it? Did we wanna radiate? You know, we had options because it was detected early, and so we are definitely advocates for early detection and for screenings, from that standpoint so that people have an opportunity to make some form of decisions regarding, regarding their lives.

And that's so important, what you said right there, because the advances are what people need to know about.

And also the testing. Like you mentioned, the PSA screening is so important, and that's a blood test. That's a finger prick that can be done, whereas people often think about the prostate exam, and I think for a lot of men, that's where they immediately kind of shut down on that. Do you find when you try to have discussions with Black men about prostate cancer, how do you kind of get past the m- the myths and the stigma? What do you tell them to convince them and also their wives? I wanna talk to to you, Kristin, about that as well, but a lot of times, that's the education aspect that, we need to share also.

Yeah. Well, well, let me just say, I, I started out, and I w- I wanna circle back around to part of your first question as well as about my family history. long before I was ever diagnosed with prostate cancer, I was going, and I was just having check- I was getting checked and regularly screened, for it. And so I would joke about it, and so that's how I would interact with other men about getting checked. Like, I would say, "I'm going to get my prostate checked today. My doctor has a very firm handshake. Pray for me." You know, I would say s- jokingly, you know- Yeah ...

I would say, "Oh, I'm going to get my prostate checked today, and then I'm gonna curl up, with a pint of Häagen-Dazs and watch Hallmark." Like, it- I was joking, but at the same breath, I was outwardly saying, "Dude, do what you need to do, but go get your prostate checked," but not even knowing at that time when I was jokingly trying to influence guys to do it- Yeah ...

that it wasn't even that check that matters more than the blood test, than the PSA test. That's right. And so I would find out, once getting diagnosed, oh, you know, I had an uncle, who had prostate cancer. Oh, I had a grandmother, who had a double mastectomy. Oh, and I had an uncle pass away several years ago. He also had died of prostate cancer. Didn't know that. Oh, have another- you know, have a dad, who had prostate cancer, didn't, didn't tell anybody. Like, so this journey of, one, prostate cancer being a very intimate topic, it's something that people don't outwardly discuss because of the, the parts of the body that can be affected by it.

it's a very, very quiet, taboo, type of scenario where people rather, would rather keep quiet. And so from that standpoint, I think we wanted to just kind of peel the, you know, peel the veil back on this thing because there was no template for us, once getting diagnosed. We didn't know, you know, where do I go to get information? Where And, you know, there are great Facebook groups, but, you know, you go and look at that, that's like go- you know- Mm-hmm ... I'll just say there's certain things you really wanna know from trusted professionals more than- Absolutely ... than, you know, the, the general population.

And so, yeah, I'll just leave that there. No, that's so important, and I, and I agree with you 100%. That generational health is so key for people to go back and find out and talk to family members. So it was fantastic that you're saying you talked to the family members.

You found out where you had those connections in your background. Because so often with prostate cancer, people do find that there is someone in their family who had it, and that's going to lead them more likely to also have prostate cancer as well, or just the importance of going and getting screened early. the age is now for Black men to be screened early is, as early as 40. Am I correct? That is correct. Correct. So that is something where, we definitely want to encourage people to go, Black men in particular, to go and to ask for it because, as you mentioned, a lot of, medical providers will not actually bring it up.

I mentioned to you earlier, I lost my father, sadly, in 2007 to prostate cancer. He went all the time for screenings, and the doctor, d- despite him having all of the things that should have led for him to get screened, didn't recommend that he get- got screened, and it was too late by the time that he was diagnosed. I wanna circle back, to you talking about the treatments, and Kristin, I wanna bring you into the conversation. Montel mentioned how you guys looked at the treatments together. How, how did you feel when this w- obviously, when you found out the diagnosis, you guys pulled together as a family.

You guys are involved in ministry together. You've been married over 30 years. obvi- you've got children, grandchildren together. What did it look like to find out this health, you know, diagnosis was gonna rock your family to the core? How were you able to s- to be there for him, for the family?

What went through your mind? Let's start there. Well, I think one of the things that y- is important to know is that in his family, we talk about that there are lines and things that were happening as far as previous history, but nobody talked about it, and we didn't know about it until after we were diagnosed. So these are things that came out after the fact, and I think that's critical to know because we have to have these open conversations previously, right? Right. So we, we do get the diagnosis in January of '24. We're trying to re- figure out, like, what does this look like?

What are our options? What are our choices? So we end up flying all over the country, trying to figure out the different ways- we can take care of it, whether it's freeze it, burn it, all the things, but we went to every place we could think of that would be the, the top-rated things. Not everybody can do that, and so for us- Yes ... we wanted to make sure that we were able to document all the things that were happening to us so that it would give a template for somebody else. Because we didn't have anybody to look to for that, to say, "Oh, this is, this is the way that this goes, and this is the next step, and this is what you should do here." 'Cause guess what?

How do we get to tell our parents? How do we tell our kids, our grandkids? And for months, we didn't tell any of them, for, like, four months, and it was such a burden and a weight to carry. And it's important to know that, you know what? You don't have to carry that alone, and sharing it with other people can help lighten the load of what that looks like.

Because it's important that, we carry this together, and that we pray together and figure this out and what that looks like. And for us, our faith is what ends up carrying us through all of this scenario and gets us to a place of, of peace of mind. Yeah, and if I could just say also, ba- because we talked about documenting the whole thing. Because we didn't have GPS on how to navigate this diagnosis. We had to become GPS. Sure. We felt like God said, "I need you to document this," and we were like, "No!" And He was like, "No- Very much no. ... Do it." and because every cancer for every man is, is going to be different, and how they respond to it is different.

We understand what we're documenting, even now, is not the, the remedy, but it is resourceful so that people know, "Well, I can't get to Mayo Clinic." Maybe you can't, but I went there, and here's what I learned at Mayo. Yeah. "Maybe I can't get to Keck Medical out in, in Los Angeles, one of the leaders in..." Okay, you can't, but I did. And so from that standpoint, if I can just give you the information regarding what active observation looks like, what, proton therapy looks like, what, HIFU looks like, what all the different options from radiation to prostatectomy, the machines they use.

All we did was document our journey of researching my life and vetting what we were going to do, and documenting it so people can have a template to be able to look at and say, "I would, I would probably want to research this," or, "No, I don't want to do that, I want to do this." And I felt like we didn't have that.

I felt like we didn't have that from a, an h- highly influential someone that I could point to and say, "I trust that person, and I'm gonna at least take that information in," and so not having that template And when I say this, I'm saying this from a standpoint of I know there are men out there who have documented their stories, and they've told their stories. I'm saying that my life story and our journey, I couldn't find the, the template that spoke to me from a, a, a- A human standpoint ... a recorded artist, human. Not, not the, not the, uh- Yeah ... the online scary stuff, right?

Right. But where, you know, your, your, your guts are gonna s- turn inside out. You know, not all these wonderful things- Yeah ... that we get to hear about on the internet. Yeah. but, really, we, we needed the practical of, like, how do we have a conversation with our 36-year-old, but then how do we have a conversation with our 13-year-old? And those are very different conversations. Yeah. That is something that is so key, and, and, and I hear what you're saying, is, like, basically you're looking at where is that person that's bringing the empathy to the conversation?

Where is the person that you can see themselves- you can see yourself in their experience- Right ... and their journey, and use it as a role model. And I think what you're describing also is, is what we're about to get into, which is Sustain the Movie, which is what This is the documentary that you, Montell and Kristin, started with the first diagnosis in January 2024, and it's really carrying throughout your journey and all of those difficult times.

As you've looked at the treatments, as you've looked at how you've had those difficult discussions, the good days and the bad days of dealing i- Yeah ... dealing with your condition. I mean, we see you right now. We see you out on the stage at events like Blitz the Barriers with Zero Prostate Cancer, and you're performing. You're performing your version of, you know, this is how we cure it. But we know those are the, the good days, and we know that there's the not so good days, which we know you get into in the movie. But do talk about, as we talk about the generations, we talk about those difficult conversations.

How did you approach those conversations? Because we're talk- when we talk generations, we are t- we're, we're really- we're talking up, and we're talking down. You've got a 36-year-old, you've got a 13-year-old, and you mentioned, you're talking about your mother- Right ... as well. How do A- and the secret of four months. How do you keep that for four months, just the two of you? A- and thank goodness you leaned on your wife. Some people don't lean on their wife for that four months. How did you guys- how did you decide to do it? Did you sit everybody down? Did you have individual calls?

Walk me through that. Okay, well, I'm gonna start here, and I'm gonna give you a real transparent moment right here, because- Okay ... part of our superpow- pow- part of our superpower is transparency and, and vulnerability. Okay. So we'll probably ask you for access to this footage, and here is- Okay.

... because, right now, as I'm preparing, and I'm, I'm skipping forward a little bit, as I'm preparing to go through a, a new set of treatments that re- require proton therapy for seven weeks, seven and a half weeks, starting in October, I have to take a hormone, a hormone- Blocker ... a blocker, uh- that is helping regulate my body to prepare for the pro- pro- proton therapy, and one of the side effects of it is you get menopausal type of side effects, where you get hot flashes- Menopause at the same time as- Muscle- ... Terrible. I have my fan blowing right over here.

Well, I, I need your fan right now. I've got my perimenopausal - I want them to see this. This is not because it's hot in this room. It is hot- Right ... because the medication that I'm taking right now in real time- Yeah ... 24 days into this journey, uh- Yeah ... is actually happening right now in this very moment. And the thing is, I don't think something like this is documented anywhere. it, it may be- No ... but I, I haven't found access to it, and so by documenting it and s- and telling it and saying it, not being afraid of it, maybe even laughing at it, but not joking with it, but from a standpoint of this is what I am navigating through in this process.

This is a part of what Sustain the Movie is. It's documenting in real time what we are navigating, which we thought would be We documented it from the standpoint of we're going through it, and we finished it. Cancer's taken out of my body. Yay, us. And then a few weeks ago, the re-diagnosis of, oh, there's more.

Okay, that means there's more filming, and so that's where we are in this process right now. So to tie back into the question you originally asked, Kristen, is that how do we tell, eventually tell our kids? We told the oldest first. Yeah. the, the oldest basically said, "You gotta tell the other kids, because, one, y'all shouldn't have held it that long, and two, we gotta be able to, to take this journey with you." And part of what we were learning in that process, even on our side, is my hesitation and the hesitation of many men of sharing with their wives or anybody, is they feel like when they tell somebody about the cancer, that that person also now has the responsibility of carrying cancer.

It's almost like cancer does what it does, and it eats away at everybody that it, that it touches. So I almost don't wanna tell somebody else, because I don't want them to carry cancer. I'm the one that's carrying it. But what we realize is that I don't need anybody else to carry cancer. I need them to help carry me, and there's a difference. And so recognizing that my wife can help carry me and my kids can help carry me, when you can make that distinction and help others make that distinction, you don't have to be isolated in solitude, in this own- you know, in this lonely space of I have to carry this thing on my own.

It's, it's the thing that's, that's trying to inhabit me right now, but I don't need anyone else to carry that, but I do need them I, I think the statement is, "I can do hard things, but I cannot do hard things alone." Yes.

And so this is the journey of bringing the other kids in individually, not on camera, and telling them, "Here's what Dad and Mom are, are going through," sitting down, telling the 12-year-old at the time, "Here's what Dad is going through, and here's what we're navigating." And then after they all processed it individually, not on any cameras, we then asked them if they wanted to process it- Together ... openly with each other, and if they were willing to process it with cameras being present for other families to be able to- Get freedom ... to get freedom from. And so they agreed, and so her, her moms and, and all, all our kids and everything, they all came together, and then that's when they together openly processed what they were, what they were navigating.

So there's no, there's no template for, there's no right or wrong way to do it. Right. it's just right now the way that we have done it, that can be a way that others can choose to, to move forward, and I don't think everybody wants to document their experience. And so they don't have to worry about that part with the cameras, but they can know at least, well, here's how you can tell the most, you know, the mature of your kids, and how together you, you bring the, the, the tribe together to help each other along, and that everybody is not carrying the disease. We need you to carry Dad in this process- Yeah, ...

or help him. And the other thing is, is that, in talking about it and in letting the knowledge and the power of knowledge c- come forth, it allows them to have peace of mind, right?

So my grandson was having an issue with it, because he's like, "Because my father passed of lung cancer in '23." So now we have Big Papa with cancer, but it's not the same. But they don't know it's not the same. At eight, you can't process that. Right. And so how do I, how do I process that with my grandson and say, "Hey, let me give you knowledge, let me give you power, let me show you what's happening, and let me sh- show you what this looks like," so that they can have an understanding, so they don't have the angst of it, and they're not trying to associate it with something else?

And it's the knowledge is power. And so for us, we're really big advocates of early detection and conversation. Mm-hmm. Because in order for people to have clarity and not have the mystique and the, the ooh about it- Mm-hmm ... people have to talk about it. But if you don't know about it, you don't wanna talk about it. And so- And who was the hardest to talk to and give the, your d- cancer diagnosis to? Was there one family member or one discussion that you were maybe more concerned about, nervous about having, or that when you started having it, you realized, "Oh, this is not going the way we thought it was gonna go?" That's gonna be, yeah- Sam.

That's, that's gonna be Samantha. That's the 12-year-old. Okay. She's 13 now. At the time, when we told her, that there's something inside Dad's body that is not supposed to be there, and it needs to come out, and it's in the prostate, and- What does the prostate do?

... Daddy's gonna have a prostate, and Dad, Dad's gonna have his prostate taken out, and a robot is going to take the, the, the prostate out. Now, I didn't even know at the time what that process looked like or whatever. Yeah. And so, you know, she's like, "Okay, so the, what, what is the robot, what, what is the robot gonna do?" I said And this is what I told her. I said, "The robot's gonna go in Dad's butt, and it's gonna take the pr-" I didn't know at the time. He's not- I knew I had to have the prostate removed, but I didn't understand the process. So I said, "Yeah, the robot's gonna go in Dad's butt, and it's gonna take the prostate out." And she's like, "Well, is the robot gonna stay there?" I said, "No, the robot is not gonna- ...

stay in Dad's butt. The robot is gonna come out." And she said, "Well, what does the prostate do?" Ah. Now, okay, so for, most people who may not know this, the prostate does three things. The, the prostate, generates semen. the prostate is the, alarm system that speaks to the bladder that lets you know when you need to go to the restroom. and so the bladder presses down on the prostate when it gets full, and the prostate sends a message to the brain saying, "Hey, you gotta go pee," and, and that's what it does, the second thing. And then the third thing the prostate does is it regulates blood flow, blood flow to the penis during an erection.

So- Now explain that to a- ... when the Mrs. Jordan is like, "Hey, hey!" ... the prostate sends a message.

They send blood flow to here. And so with those three things, using the restroom, um- Seamen ... facilitating erections and creating semen, she's asking me at 12, "Well, what does the prostate do?" And so I began on this journey of telling her: "Okay, have you had the, the, the birds and the bees story in, in school?" And she's like, "No, not, not yet." And then I'm like, "Okay, do you know how babies, how, how babies, you know, reproduce or this or that?" "Well, no, I know that like ladybugs, you know, can be male or female." And I'm like: "No, this is, this is not- Not ladybugs.

... This is not that." Right. And so- I learned about asexual reproduction- Right. ... I was like, "Ah." So I start- I started to ask her about, "Okay, give me an animal that you really, really, like, and, and I'll, I'll tell you a story." And she's like, "Okay, dolphins." And I'm like, "Yeah, that one's not gonna work." That's not gonna work. Right. "Try another animal." She's like, "Dogs," and I'm like, "I don't wanna use that one either." And so I'm like: "Okay, so, there's a, a, a, a daddy dragon and a mommy dragon." Yeah. And- And this is how this goes ... the mommy dragon- Yeah ...

loves the daddy dragon very much, and she's like, "Hey, big boy- "Hey, boy." ... come give me some of that- ... daddy dragon love." "And then when she does- when he does that, then the prostate is..." And so I'm trying to give her with this, and- And she- ... every time, every time I would say, "And so it produces semen," and she would go, "Bleh!" Bleh.

Or I would say, "Then, you know, it gets an erection," and she'd go, "Bleh!" And so I basically said, "Are you sure you wanna do this now?" She's like, "No, I just wanna be a kid right now." And so- Yeah. You guys were just blowing her mind right then and there. It was just a little overload. "I just, I just wanna be a kid right now." So And I was like, "Well-" So, I mean, so, so that is part of it. May- maybe your next thing is you're gonna be, like, the children's, children's book author. yeah. Doing the birds and the bees, right? Yeah. Oh, man. But, you know, one thing you mentioned, though, in, in describing, your treatment is that you opted to have your prostate removed.

Mm-hmm. So tell me about, in terms of selecting your treatment So you had your prostate removed, and if I'm not mistaken, in the biopsy you found out that you were stage two, once the biopsy was done. However, now this information, sadly, is, is very new. Here we are at the end of September, the end of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, but in the beginning of the month, you made the announcement that your prostate cancer had returned or that they had found more cancer. With the prostate being removed, where is the cancer if it's not in the prostate? Yeah. The, the current, X-rays and everything show that in the lymph- the left lymph node, there was some cancer, and in the prostate bed, where the prostate sat- ...

that there's some undetected But, you know, they, they literally light you up with a bunch of different, I forgot what the drink is that you- Yeah ...

that you take in, but it basically illuminates everything inside the body, so they can light up and see where, where cancer is. And so they know it's in the left lymph node, and they know that there's just some little sprinkles in the prostate bed. And so from that standpoint, the different options, like I said earlier on, that were available even prior to the radical prostatectomy surgery, which is complete removal of the prostate, was that you can watch it, active observation, which is what some men choose to do based on the level of, you know, degree of where they are.

There's HIFU treatment, which is, frequency ultrasound, high-frequency ultrasound, which is like a, a very targeted form of sound waves and things like that, that go in and, and then there's, what? There's, there's- Beads ... little beads and, there- there's tons of different, You can watch it, you can treat it, you can radiate it, you can remove it. Those were the, the options. And the- Mm-hmm ... the treating it means you can heat it up, or you can freeze it. The- all the different types of technologies of we're gonna send these beads in, and they're gonna freeze it, or we're gonna do this treatment, and it's gonna heat them up, and we're gonna kill cancer in that way.

And so ultimately, those four options of watch it- treat it, radiate it, remove it. I looked at myself at age 50-something, at 55 at the time, and said, "I'm at a space where I believe if I have it removed, I'm gonna be able to recover from it and, and keep pushing along, and not have to deal with regular going back and, and, you know, and treatment for it." which was part- partially accurate, and then, at the same breath, nine months after the removal, still going for regular checkups and, and for, you know, my, my regular doctor visits, that's where this was found, that- ...

I don't think it was a recurrence, but maybe something either new or- Was hiding ... was hiding, you know- Sure ... because it was early first stage when they diagnosed it. It was, stage two aggressive after they pulled it out and found it, and so now, almost a year later, you're s- still seeing, "Okay, there's still some little stuff here that we should probably go in and, and take care of," which is where the, the radiation/proton therapy is the decision, you know, moving forward. Gotcha. So in that decision, so just as you said, you've decided that you're gonna do proton therapy.

Mm-hmm. Tell us what that entails. What is the And I know you're about to start next month- Mm-hmm ... but next month is next week. Mm-hmm. how, how soon are you going to be starting, and what does the next month, month after that, and what does the rest of 2025 look like for you with proton therapy? what kind of schedule of treatment are you gonna be looking at? Sure. well, photon therapy is the regular form of radiation where they hit- All kinds of things ... all kinds of organs. They hit everything because they're trying to make sure it does not advance in the body. because it's very, very, detected and isolated in these particular areas for me, proton therapy is a very targeted pen or pencil-like form of- Laser ...

targeted lasered radiation. It does not hit the entire portion of my body, but specifically- Got it ... can go into the left lymph node and into the prostate bed. And so they've recently, this past week, really as of yesterday, mapped my body, where I'll go into a, a facility, in Atlanta, and when I lock into that, into that space, I need to be in the same space with a full bladder and a, and a empty rectum, a empty bowel, to be able to go in and for them to give me a small dose of the proton therapy or radiation, just in those specific areas for 37 treatments, which basically means for about seven and a half weeks, I will go in- Monday through Friday ...

five days a week, Monday through Friday, and it's last less than an hour. I'm normally probably in the, on the table somewhere between 20 to 30 minutes, where they are just laser focused, hitting those specific areas to not affect any other, areas of the body with the, with the proton therapy. So basically, starting October 7th, all the way up through just about probably Thanksgiving, that is, will be my journey, five days a week, going and, and being treated. And the- they've said that most people do not have any type of, le- lethargy or any type of- Fatigue ... fatigue or things like that, but every person- ...

is different. So, I'm, I'm still planning on, carving out that portion of life to do that, but like, I can't sit still for seven and a half weeks, and- ... and most humans can't just not do life for seven and a half weeks. They have to, you know, to do what they do, and so that'll be my journey of, of going and doing that at, the medical facility here in Atlanta, and we believe that at the end of those seven and a half weeks, we're gonna ring that bell and, and be done. You're gonna ring that bell. I, I know you're gonna ring that bell. Kristen, I wanna talk to you as a caregiver.

To support someone going through 37 treatments, five days a week, even without feeling lethargic, feeling that without, you know, all of those things, there's a mental toll on him. There's a mental toll on you and the family members. As a caregiver, how do you approach the treatments? How do you plan to, you know, help him maintain that, that level of positivity?

I mean, right now, we see it, we feel it, we know you guys are a couple of faith. But even people with faith, as you're continuing on a journey seven and a half weeks long, you know, we know that there's gonna be the ups and the downs. How do, how, as a caregiver, we know also that caregivers often have to make sure that they're supporting themselves and, making sure that they keep themselves up, because they can also start to fall down. how do you plan to support him as a caregiver through this time- Well- ... and your family? Absolutely. well, I'm gonna share something with you that he doesn't even know.

but w- we're out here in these, Black Doctor Org streets, so um- Just bring it on ... what we, what we do is, we pray. We pray incessantly, but we don't do it alone. I was feeling a little bit heavy, and I was asking the Lord, like, "What do we do with this? Like, how do we process all this?" Because it is the mental toll, right? But, it's, we don't do it alone. And so, for- every day that he will be in treatment for the 52 days, that he will be doing treatment, he will have a person who will be fasting and praying with him, and praying scriptures over him, on each and every day.

He's got at least two people, some days four, that will be partnering with him, to make sure that whatever things he's going through on that particular day, that they can partner with him and lift his arms up. This is not a solo sport. This is, we have to do this with other people, and this gives us the strength that we will need to go through this, and make sure that our arms are being lifted up in this process.

And me and our kids will go with him, each, each day. Someone will go with him. We don't go in the actual therapy room with him, but we go and take him, and then, we're there for him mentally to be able to have those conversations to say, "Today's a tough day," or, "Today's a good day." Whatever that day looks like, one thing we know is we won't be doing it alone. That's- That's- Phenomenal. That's How do you feel, Montell, in hearing this about the prayer warriors that are gonna be, you know, circling around you every single day as you're going through this? I feel like I got two Kristens trying to make me cry at the same time.

And, uh- The tag team Kristens, right? Yeah. My queen back again. Yep. Honey kitten. No, like I said, I, I, I'm-- I receive it. I am-- I can do hard things. I know I can do hard things. Yeah. I can't do hard things alone. And so when it comes to, to taking this journey, I don't have to take it alone. part of the sustainthemovie, dot com or the Sustain The Movie project we're working on, that's been a heavy lift. That's felt That has felt like we're doing this alone, and so, uh- ... from that standpoint. When I say alone, I'm not saying that we don't have people who are, producing and editing and coming alongside of us to, to empathize with us on the journey and feel us.

What I'm saying the, the heavy lift of this, is part of the, the world does not know that from diagnosis, all of 2024 and most of 2025, I still go out, I still tour, I still perform, I still do shows and speaking engagements, and I'm doing that to finance the film about cancer.

So- Wow ... I have cancer, and I'm going out to get money to finance a film talking about how I'm defeating the cancer at the same time. That, that is, that is a crazy cycle that you're doing right there. A- and right now, Sustain The Movie, you've got a trailer that's out, so people right now can get a taste of the movie that literally is happening in real time. Right. I mean, this is, as you're starting these 37 treatments, the, the camera is still rolling. Correct. It started rolling in January 2024, when you got the initial diagnosis. It is still rolling right now all the way through.

People can watch this thir- where can people watch this 13-minute trailer? How can people contribute to help this movie come off, y- you know, get released, get completed, and get you off the road so that you can rest? We need you to just focus on resting. You know, how do people do that and support Sustain The Movie? Yeah. sustainthemovie.com. Very, very simple, sustainthemovie.com. You can see the entire trailer there. There are places there to be able to, to give. We know that every dollar, every amount, accounts. I am thinking even bigger from the standpoint of, we know that there are pharmaceutical companies, there are, facilities, there are, very bene- very generous people.

There are folks that can stroke a check and help us get this thing done and get Montell off the road. So - Yeah ... that, that's my goal, that somebody would see this and want to, either, generously donate or partner or to figure out in some way to have other people come alongside of us to help us get this story told.

I would rather be focused more on my, on my healing than focus on, on filming. and so I think that's the, the biggest thing for us, you know, right now. It's got-- the story's gotta be told, and so because of that standpoint, having You know, I don't, I don't know who or what, but the machinery that, that took out the, the prostate, the, the, the- Da Vinci ... the things that's giving me the, the, the heat flashes right now- The veins ... like, you know, c- come, come to the table, let's get this thing done. Because the two things that we're trying to do, Kristen, is, one, we're trying to get the documentary finished for the 30 year This is 30 years of This Is How We Do It.

Okay. We also know that next year, I'm a am- ambassador for Zero Prostate Cancer. Next year, 2026, is 30 years for them. Mm-hmm. and so the objective is that we wanna have this documentary done so that 2026, we wanna do, and you started alluding to this, we wanna do a This Is How We Cure It tour, where we travel to 30 cities celebrating the 30 years of This Is How We Do It, celebrating 30 years of Zero Prostate Cancer, and celebrating, with a tour in 30 different cities, where in those 30 cities we screen the film and we get men screened when they come to screen the film.

So the, the setup is, is perfect. Like, it's the perfect storm of getting men healed. Zero Prostate Cancer is looking at, helping 100,000 men heal- over the next, is it 100,000? 10. Yep, 10 years. T- 100,000 over the next 10 years- Get them tested ...

by 2035, to get them tested. I want more than that. I believe we can do more than that. I think we can do 100,000 in the next year if, if we're out, and we're screening, and we're touring, and we're hitting those cities and doing what we need to do. And so, yeah, I, I think, uh- We need people to come alongside us- We need people to help, yeah ... bring this to the forefront so that we can take the mystique off of this disease, and that we can get people healed, because the truth is, early detection saves lives. 100 percent 99% treatable when, when early detection is, is, is done, and so that's what we're doing.

We're advo- you know, we're being advocates for early detections and screenings, and we're trying to bring the screenings to people, as opposed to saying, "You go do it." We're trying to make it We're trying to take all the excuses away. So that's, I mean, so and that's what you're doing as a global ambassador for Zero Prostate Cancer, is really getting the word out, getting the screenings out. You've got 30- 30th anniversary of This Is How We Do It. I- I saw the remake of the This Is How We Cure It at the Zero Prostate Cancer Blitz The Barriers event, the kickoff launch event in Atlanta.

Love that, with the NF- the retired NFL choir behind you. Mm-hmm. This Is How We Cure It. I, I'm waiting to see all the lyrics change. I, I need all the lyrics to be redone so we can really get the song going, but that's fantastic. I mean, this is truly a mission for you. 30th anniversary, 30th anniversary for Zero Prostate.

30 cities, 100,000 Black men screened, or h- 100,000 men screened, and we're talking a very simple blood test- That's it ... right at the screening. Get your PSA numbers checked right there then, then and there, and we know how much that early detection can save lives right then and there. That's- That's fantastic. And then with sustainthemovie.com, we've got the opportunity right there for people to support you and Kristin, and follow your journey, and really make a difference in giving that template. Like you said before, you've got the This Is How We Do It, but you had no idea of how to do it, how to do it on this journey.

What's the GPS? What is the rule book? And this is how you're putting it out there for, for Black men out there. And when you said you didn't have anyone relatable, I think this is the difference this time around. There are many, Zero Prostate global ambassadors, and they bring different things to the table, which is fantastic. I know you, as a global ambassador, are gonna really touch a lot of people who are gonna be able to connect with you also in particular, and I think the strides that you're taking is amazing. very excited for you. We're gonna be following your journey.

really hopeful, faithful- Yeah ... prayerful for you on this journey. I'm gonna be sitting here with my fan, thinking about you. and I just You know, a- a- the last thing, is there any other calls to action that you want for us, you know, to, to l- look into the camera and, and speak to the Black men that are out there, either hesitant or just unaware?

you know, is it, "Get your history?" Is it, "Get screened?" Hold on one second. That's my- my refrigerator wants to chime in. I'm sorry. Any- do you have any, any calls to action, you know, before I let you guys go, about, you know, what you would like Black men to know about getting screened, about early access, or just as we wrap up Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, or just a message to, your fans about the support that they've given you so far, looking into the next month? Yeah, for sure. I'm gonna, I'm gonna look into this camera here and just, before I talk to my guys real quick, I need to talk to my ladies out there.

Yeah. super, super important, hear your brother here. men, a lot of times, won't do what they need to do unless they are pushed or pulled- That's it ... lovingly, not nagged, but lovingly pushed or pulled, to help preserve their family legacy. And so I am speaking to the moms out there who have sons. I'm speaking to the wives out there, who have husbands. I am speaking, to the sisters. I am speaking to the aunties out there. I'm speaking to all the women out there who have men in your lives, who are of age, who you love, and I am asking you to ask them, or push them, or prompt them, or pull them, or encourage them, or influence them to just go get checked.

You say it. It is not a difficult thing to do. It is something that is very necessary for you and the men in your lives that you love, your pastors, your brothers. Like, it's so vitally important that something so treatable is doing what it is doing, not just in the world, but specifically in our community.

When you hear that one out of every eight men is going to be diagnosed, with prostate cancer, 70% of those guys are gonna be African American men. It's one out of six. Helloblackdoctors.org. 70% is gonna look like, like this. Yeah. And 70%-- and if they say it's a 70% chance of rain, bring an umbrella. 70% is a, is a large number, and if that's us, then that means it's up to us to do something to make sure that we change those numbers. Now, to my guys, don't play with this. Don't play with this. If you've ever liked any of my music, anything I've ever done, everything- anything I've ever preached, anything I've ever said, even if you don't like me, hear me.

early detection helped save my life. Mm-hmm. Continued screenings is currently right now helping save my life. Mm-hmm. And so because of that, I am not only asking and praying and begging, I am mandating. I am mandating for you to schedule a blood test. You pro- you might not even know what your blood type is- Yeah ... because we don't go to the doctor in the way that we need to. "Well, I don't trust doctors." Find a doctor you trust. Figure it out, because at some point, you must do something about this, as my wife says, "Before it does something about you." Because it does not care.

Disease does not care. The world is not stopping because Montell Jordan is navigating cancer. And so because of that, I'm, I'm using my voice as best I can, using my influence as best I can, to help save your life, and to help save not just your life, but the life of your spouse and your daughters and your sons, and your brothers and your sisters, and your mothers and your family.

What type of legacy do you wanna leave? We all leave a legacy, good or bad. It's whatever you leave. And so I would love for you to leave a, a legacy, where I think Kristin has said it earlier, that generational health is generational wealth. Say that. Generational health is the new generational wealth, and I'm trying to pass that, not just through my family, I'm trying to leave that with y'all. Hear your boy. Hear your boy. Super, super important. This is my plea to you, from a guy that's navigating it right now. I'm in the mud right now, and so this ain't from the other side.

This is from the thick of it, saying, "Do what you need to do," because your life matters to me as much as my own life matters to me. Amen? Amen. Amen. I don't know if you want to add anything to that, babies. Thank you so much. Thank you. You said it. That was it. That's it. I, I think there's nothing else to say. That's right. Mic drop. Thank you so much, Montell and Kristin. Montell, like I said, we're praying for you. We're, we're joining the prayer warriors October 7th. We're right there with you. Please keep in contact with us. Let us know through the journey. We're sus- we're supporting SustainTheMovie.com, and we're looking forward to those 30 cities, and we're gonna be right there.

And we're bringing I- if it's- if we're not one of the men, we're bringing the men. That's right. You say push, push 'em, pull 'em, we're bringing 'em. That's right. So thank you so much. Thank you for the interview with us.

I'm Kristin Vaughn with BlackDoctor.org, with Montell and Kristin Jordan. Thank you so much. Thank y'all. Thank you. Bye.