"My urologist said 'because you were so diligent in that piece of your health, it was to your advantage. We were able to catch it so early because you were being tested,'" he said.

After learning about the diagnosis, which Pickens says his doctors "hadn't seen one that was detected as early" as his, he decided to get a radical prostatectomy to prevent the cancer from spreading. Johns Hopkins defines a radical prostatectomy as a treatment option for the partial or full removal of the prostate.

It's more likely to develop in older men and early screening is encouraged after 40. Prostate cancer risk is higher in African American men and in Caribbean men of African ancestry and anyone with a family history of prostate cancer according to the ACS.