When professional golfer Scott Ford was diagnosed with prostate cancer at just 56, he asked what many active men want to know after hearing the word cancer: “How long is this going to put me on the shelf?” For Ford, a fourth-generation pro golfer whose grandfather was the 1957 Masters Tournament champion Doug Ford, the answer was surprising—hardly at all.

Rather than undergoing a radical prostatectomy to remove his entire prostate gland, Ford was treated by Jonathan Haas, MD, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, with CyberKnife, a minimally invasive form of high-dose, highly targeted radiation delivered robotically.

“In my view, CyberKnife is one of the greatest advances in radiation oncology in the last two decades,” said Dr. Haas. “It has proven to be a highly effective, noninvasive treatment option for patients with intermediate or advanced prostate cancer.”

NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island marks its 20th anniversary of treating prostate cancer with CyberKnife this year. Ford, who can’t say enough about its benefits, is publicly sharing his story during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed nationally every September.

Ford received his CyberKnife treatment in the morning and was back teaching golf in the afternoon, without any fatigue or disruption to his day. The subsequent hormone therapy, he said, ultimately affected his golf drive more than the radiation.

“CyberKnife is fantastic,” said Ford, who underwent five treatments over two weeks. “It was painless, and I didn’t have any side effects. You’re done in the morning and then go about your day.”

Now 57, Ford wants other men diagnosed with prostate cancer to know that surgery isn’t their only option.

“His long-term prognosis is great,” said Dr. Haas, “My hope is that 20 years from now he’s still hitting golf balls, and this is just a distant memory.”

About NYU Langone Health

NYU Langone Health is a fully integrated health system that consistently achieves the best patient outcomes through a rigorous focus on quality that has resulted in some of the lowest mortality rates in the nation. Vizient Inc. has ranked NYU Langone No. 1 out of 118 comprehensive academic medical centers across the nation four years in a row, and it continues to have the most No. 1– and top 10–ranked specialties among medical centers in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report. NYU Langone offers a comprehensive range of medical services with one high standard of care across seven inpatient locations, its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and more than 330 outpatient locations in the New York City area and Florida. The system also includes two tuition-free medical schools, in Manhattan and on Long Island, and a vast research enterprise.

Media Contact

Rosemary Gomez
Phone: 516-663-2709
Rosemary.Gomez@NYULangone.org