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Ben Stiller Opens Up On Battle With Prostate Cancer, Credits PSA Test For Saving Life

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Ben Stiller has revealed that he battled prostate cancer in 2014, and he credits the test that diagnosed the cancer with saving his life.

In an essay posted Tuesday on the website Medium , Stiller recounted his experience with prostate cancer. Learning that he had it Stiller compared to "a classic Walter White moment, except I was me and no one was filming anything at all.''

Stiller is now cancer-free and he believes that would never have happened without a PSA or prostate-specific antigen test. Stiller said he wanted to tell his story in support of the much-debated test.

"...Without this PSA test itself, or any screening procedure at all, how are doctors going to detect asymptomatic cases like mine, before the cancer has spread and metastasized throughout one's body rendering it incurable?" Stiller wrote in the essay.

Stiller had his PSA test when he was 46, four years before the American Cancer Society recommends. Many experts say a PSA can do as much harm as good.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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