VIDEO: When Paul Pietrafesa, a driver for Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his wife Karen said she was glad he and their family had done everything they always wanted to do, and that they had lived every day like it was their last.
“Cancer doesn’t discriminate. It’s not a race, a male, or a female that’s going to get it more. It’s going to impact everybody,” said Karen in a video produced by her late husband’s colleagues.
Unfortunately, some are more likely than others to develop deadly cancer, especially firefighters.
According to research conducted by the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, male firefighters are at an increased risk for testicular and prostate cancers and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Female firefighters are more likely to develop a range of cancers, most commonly cervical.