Harry Griffith took one look at his family history and figured if there were going to be health issues, it would be with his heart.

His father suffered numerous heart attacks before succumbing to one. Up and down his family tree, the same is true for others.

Two years ago, family history took on a whole new meaning. When Griffith found out he had prostate cancer in the spring of 2009, his younger brother Tom was hearing the same news.

“Heart attacks have always been a part of my family,” said Griffith, who has five brothers and sisters. “I wasn’t aware of anyone in the family who had cancer. For my brother and I to get it at the same time was a shock.”

Griffith, who serves as superintendent for both School Districts 115 and 67 in Lake Forest, has been sharing his story ever since. Even if at times he doesn't believe it contains the same struggles and heartaches that other cancer victims have encountered. But he has felt the same fear, confronted the same anxieties and dealt with cancer's aftermath as much as any survivor.

“It’s such an emotional experience to go through the realization that you have cancer and it could be life-threatening,” Griffith said. “To come out of it as I have, I am so impressed with people who have had to go through so much more. It really gets your attention, and you realize this fight to beat cancer is really something important.”

Griffith takes on an even more public fight Saturday, June 25, when he serves as honorary survivor at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Relay for Life at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital. The American Cancer Society's annual event starts at 6 p.m. with the survivor's walk led by Griffith, and continues for 12 hours, finishing at 6 a.m. Sunday, June 26.

“I was surprised and very honored,” Griffith said of being asked to serve as honorary survivor. “Almost humbled by it. So many people are victimized by cancer that to be asked to help them is a true honor.”

Like many men in his late 50s, Griffith's physical exams with his primary care physician included a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. The test two years ago in February 2009 read 1.3, which was well below the 4.0 that doctors consider the cutoff for normal. However, the 1.3 reading represented a change in Griffith's normal PSA counts, and Dr. David Vigder at Lake Forest Hospital asked Griffith to come back in six weeks.

Vigder's hunch was dead on. When Griffith was tested, his PSA count had shot up to 3.4 in just six weeks. While still under the 4.0 level, Vigder indicated such a spike likely meant there was a problem and ordered a biopsy.

“It was shocking to me at age 58 that I would be subjected to anything like cancer,” Griffith said. “Like many people in that position, I became frightened by it. I did some research on it. When I had the biopsy, sure enough, the cancer was growing aggressively in the prostate.”

Before he could adjust, Griffith was being asked to take action against the cancer. He opted for surgical removal at the University of Chicago Medical Center. On June 19, Griffith became cancer free. Subsequent visits, which eventually become once a year, have shown no trace of any lingering cancer. His brother Tom also came out of surgery in good shape.

“I feel like I am forever indebted to Dr. Vigder,” Griffith said. “It would have been so easy to ignore the PSA reading. It had spiked just a little bit. Had he not gotten cautious about it, I don’t know what kind of shape I would be in.”

June 19 will always be significant to Griffith. His family's southern roots also reminded him why the date is significant.

“When Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, he did so immediately on Jan. 1,” Griffith explained. “Southern owners sought to keep it a secret, but the black slaves found out about it on June 19. So in Texas on June 19, we celebrate Juneteenth. It is a state holiday. I feel like I was liberated from my cancer on Juneteenth.”

For the last two years, Griffith has celebrated his cancer-free status with his family by participating in the Lance Armstrong Live Strong Challenge in Austin, Texas. Last year, Griffith sponsored his own team of 17 people, including former Lake Bluff Superintendent John Asplund.

“Every male I run into I want to tell them this story so they can do themselves a huge favor by paying attention to their prostate,” Griffith said.